Utah Blackhawks Down in Snowbird's Mineral Basin

[coskigirl]

This is crazy. I've seen reports of no injuries.

MSN

 

[SBrown]

wut

 

[coskigirl]

More video: https://www.eastidahonews.com/2022/02/no-injuries-after-2-blackhawk-helicopters-go-down-in-utah/

 

[locknload]

Saw this. What was it doing in and around LCC? Training mission that ran into some maintenance issues?

 

[coskigirl]

 

[Tricia]

This is crazy!!
Imagine skiing along and then this happens.

@Jim Kenney any intel?

 

[msr2009]

The tribune reports that it was a training exercise and the fresh snow may have caused some visibility problems. Not sure why anyone thought doing a training exercise at a busy ski resort was a good idea…

Black Hawk helicopters crash near Snowbird

The wreck was a "training accident," according to the Utah National Guard.

www.sltrib.com

 

[Jim Kenney]

Very sorry to hear of Snowbird heli crash. Hope no one hurt. I picked a good day to go to Solitude.
BTW, I was skiing in Mineral Basin on Feb 1 when there was so much heli activity in the same area that I took this (not very good) photo of a helicopter landing beside the chairlift in the same spot as today's crash.

 

[Tricia]

From the article linked in the OP
Jones said the landing zone has been used many times for training flights.

"They are surveyed to make sure they are large enough, factoring in margins for error, and I would assume that this one was selected knowing that it was far enough away from civilian populous that it was of minimal risk," Jones told reporters.

 

[scott43]

Echoing @Jim Kenney , hope everyone is ok. Having said that, when I was skiing in Austria a ways back, they were landing helos right in the piste. Like, someone falls, they do a little pole/ski/rope-off and plop the helo right beside the person. I remember coming down a fair bit (big resort) and coming over a roller and seeing a helo in the middle of the piste, thinking to myself, wtf? That's a LIVE spinning rotor helo 10m from people skiing..parting like the Red Sea. I asked my bro..his nephew apparently does helicopter rescue in Austria for a living, and this is normal operating procedure. I GUESS nothing bad has ever happened?? I just figured...probably...they'd make a bit more space..??

 

[ELDoane]

Everybody is fine. Aircraft are messed up, but not a loss. The accident investigation will take a bit, but initial report is disoriented pilot in a white out rolled the bird. The ping pong ball effect is no joke. Dust outs in Afghanistan terrified me and I was just the guy in back.

It was a known LZ, pretty routine training.

 

[newboots]

@Jim Kenney said the chopper landed right near the chairlift. They do realize there are cables running through there, right?

Far enough from civilian populations?

Why is it a known LZ if it's in a ski area near the lift?

 

[SBrown]

Echoing @Jim Kenney , hope everyone is ok. Having said that, when I was skiing in Austria a ways back, they were landing helos right in the piste. Like, someone falls, they do a little pole/ski/rope-off and plop the helo right beside the person. I remember coming down a fair bit (big resort) and coming over a roller and seeing a helo in the middle of the piste, thinking to myself, wtf? That's a LIVE spinning rotor helo 10m from people skiing..parting like the Red Sea. I asked my bro..his nephew apparently does helicopter rescue in Austria for a living, and this is normal operating procedure. I GUESS nothing bad has ever happened?? I just figured...probably...they'd make a bit more space..??

I mean, most people would move over? (In the event of a controlled landing, a crash is a little different haha).

One of my FAVORITE memories was standing at the top of ABasin (ie, top of Lenawee/Montezuma lifts) when a couple jet fighters buzzed us. One went down into the basin, below the lift terminal, the other stayed a little higher. It may have been during a Mother's Day thing? Some may have video. It was amazing. I saw a pair when I was leaving Taos last month, too, darting and dipping and just having some fun in the desert. Have seen Blackhawks in summer on Rollins Pass.

They do (did) a lot of training missions around here, too, since it's similar altitude and topography to Afghanistan, apparently. So, no, it is not unusual to have military flights all over our Western mountains. It's just weird to see the crash in the exact spot I have been multiple times!

 

[scott43]

Instant white-out..

 

[Tricia]

@Jim Kenney said the chopper landed right near the chairlift. They do realize there are cables running through there, right?

Far enough from civilian populations?

Why is it a known LZ if it's in a ski area near the lift?

'Near the lift' is subjective. Obviously they have a survey'd spot that is used for this kind of training.

 

[Tricia]

I mean, most people would move over? (In the event of a controlled landing, a crash is a little different haha).

One of my FAVORITE memories was standing at the top of ABasin (ie, top of Lenawee/Montezuma lifts) when a couple jet fighters buzzed us. One went down into the basin, below the lift terminal, the other stayed a little higher. It may have been during a Mother's Day thing? Some may have video. It was amazing. I saw a pair when I was leaving Taos last month, too, darting and dipping and just having some fun in the desert. Have seen Blackhawks in summer on Rollins Pass.

They do (did) a lot of training missions around here, too, since it's similar altitude and topography to Afghanistan, apparently. So, no, it is not unusual to have military flights all over our Western mountains. It's just weird to see the crash in the exact spot I have been multiple times!

I remember those jets at A-Basin. I remember feeling those jets!

 

[crgildart]

If TWO were "involved" did they clip each other in that cloud of dust?

 

[newboots]

'Near the lift' is subjective. Obviously they have a survey'd spot that is used for this kind of training.

Still seems bizarre to me. It wasn't that far away where it landed/crashed. Forgive me, I ski the East. There really isn't that much extra space in our ski areas!

 

[scott43]

I remember those jets at A-Basin. I remember feeling those jets!

I was walking in West Germany (at the time..) and suddenly 2 Tornado's (aircraft) blew past overhead at, I dunno, high speed..couldn't hear them coming and BOOM gone. Apparently they'd do high-speed, low altitude runs at the Soviet border to test their responses. I dunno how high they were..but it seemed damn low! Scared the CRAP outta me..

 

[SBrown]

Still seems bizarre to me. It wasn't that far away where it landed/crashed. Forgive me, I ski the East. There really isn't that much extra space in our ski areas!

My dad was in a jetliner that dropped into the Grand Canyon once! (pre-9/11, to be sure). He is retired Air Force, so it was pretty neat for him. I'm sure totally illegal, too.