Utah Blackhawks Down in Snowbird's Mineral Basin

[SBrown]

 

[crgildart]

I saw one of these bad boys buzz the terrain at Wintergreen about 5 years ago. It was entirely surreal!




MQ–1B Predator / MQ-1C Gray Eagle / MQ–9 Reaper That wingsan's 55 feet

 

[Tony]

Hopefully they weren't doing something like this in Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe with "damage to both helicopters totaled $505,751" and "permanently stripped two Navy instructor pilots from San Diego of their flying status and ordered two student pilots to undergo at least six months of repeat training because of the Sept. 13 incident, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Another flight instructor was placed on a year of probation and can’t fly during that time."

 

[newboots]

Um. At this little resort where I was briefly employed, somebody came and flew a drone over the bunny hill, probably filming for a PR video. That's the extent of my contribution here!

 

[Andy Mink]

Lucky the rotor blade didn't come toward the line.

 

[SBrown]

Lucky the rotor blade didn't come toward the line.

I mean, there is some precedent ... This was horrible.

 

[Larry]

I was skiing Alta today. I thought I heard helicopters around 9 but didnt pay any attention to it. Glad nothing terrible happened for them or people at the resorts

 

[Erik Timmerman]

I mean, there is some precedent ... This was horrible.

Grumman definitely built that one strong. I still can't believe it made it home.

Speaking of jets at ski areas, I remember sometime in the 90's two A-10s flying straight up the line for the Summit double (I think now called Glades Peak) at Okemo at very low altitude. Like Tricia said you could feel them. When they got to the top they stood up on the port wing tip and wheeled around and came right back down the line. They turned in no time and while they were turning you could see right into the cockpit and practically lock eyes with the pilot. It reminded me of that scene in Empire of the Sun.

 

[coskigirl]

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!

View attachment 160616

I remember both of those and thought of the Abasin one immediately when I saw this report.

 

[Daniel]

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

Snowbird snowcats maintain the LZ by leveling out the surface. Not sure about the rationale in choosing a spot so close to the lift terminal. The Utah National Guard has been engaged in routine training at that location for the past month on a fairly regular basis.

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..

Around 1987 my brother and I summited Pilot Peak on the Utah - Nevada border, a fairly remote mountain that, back then, only saw about 30 or so successful ascents, if the Sierra Club summit register was factual. During our long stay, an Air Force jet (likely from Hill AFB in Ogden) running unbelievably hot skimmed the summit inverted heading due west. I'll never forget the image of the pilot upside-down in the cockpit, seemingly so close that we could nearly reach out and touch him. We only had an extremely short warning that he was bearing down on the peak and, in an instant, he was long gone. About 30 or so minutes later he returned heading back into Utah and flying at a somewhat slower speed, dipping his wings a couple times as he rocketed by.

Lucky the rotor blade didn't come toward the line.

Or the Mineral Basin Express lift terminal or haul rope.

 

[SBrown]

This is why my mother never wanted me to fraternize with fighter pilots.

 

[Posaune]

They do the same kind of fighter training in the Cascades and the Olympics, including in National Wilderness areas and National Parks. There has been a big stink lately about navy jets flying low over the Olympic National Park and Olympic Wilderness. I see them scream down the river valley by my cabin fairly often in the summer time, so close I can see the pilot. None yet in the winter.

 

[Bill Miles]

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..

Many years ago, I was on a motorcycle trip riding along US 50 in Nevada, when an A-7 out of of Fallon NAS crossed the road at an altitude of about 100 feet right above me. I almost crashed the motorcycle.

 

[crgildart]

We have a lot military chopper traffic over our house the past 4 years or so. We also get life flight choppers heading to the hospital a mile down the road. Seeing this made me wonder more about the military stuff, Apaches. Blackhawks, and a few Chinooks, often in formations. I wonder how much experience these military pilots have? Could these trips be the first longer range training flight for some or many of them?? Life flight stuff doesn't bother me like that but the military stuff does some..

 

[SBrown]

On a serious note: I keep thinking about how "cool" and "amazing" it is to see these jets and other aircraft, but that's only because we are sitting here safe(ish) from what they are really for. My dad was stationed at Carswell AFB in the early 70s, lots of B-52 traffic in Ft Worth in those days. My best friend's dad was a B-52 pilot. (My own dad didn't fly, he was on the brainiac side of things.) My mom did some sort of volunteer work with Vietnamese refugee children, and would occasionally take me to class with her. I will never ever forget when all the little kids crawled under the tables every time a plane flew over, and I had to ask mom why ... those big planes that I as a little kid thought were so neat, yeah, they meant death to those little kids.

 

[tromano]

I live a few miles from the south end of the Runway at Hill AFB. F35 fly over my house daily. KC135 tankers as well. they always fly towards the west, not often over the ski areas.

Watching a life flight land on a 100' wide groomer for a guy having a heart issue with me and family standing just feet away was just amazing.

Sounds like these black hawks put on a show for snowbird skiers regularly. Too bad they had an issue.

 

[Bill Miles]

On a serious note: I keep thinking about how "cool" and "amazing" it is to see these jets and other aircraft, but that's only because we are sitting here safe(ish) from what they are really for. My dad was stationed at Carswell AFB in the early 70s, lots of B-52 traffic in Ft Worth in those days. My best friend's dad was a B-52 pilot. (My own dad didn't fly, he was on the brainiac side of things.) My mom did some sort of volunteer work with Vietnamese refugee children, and would occasionally take me to class with her. I will never ever forget when all the little kids crawled under the tables every time a plane flew over, and I had to ask mom why ... those big planes that I as a little kid thought were so neat, yeah, they meant death to those little kids.

I stayed in a motel near Carswell once and it was very evident when a B-52 was flying over. The motel had a sign at the front desk saying that it was the sound of freedom.

 

[Dwight]

In Wisconsin, we have jets training quite regularly over the ski hill. Fun to watch when they use tracers.

There have been 4-5 heli crashes this week in the US. Military and private. Some are blaming 5G, but I'm guessing other issues. Accidents do happen.

 

[crgildart]

My dad worked as a program manager on the B1B project half of his post military career life. The Air Force Memorial Monument dedication was the weekend of his services at Arlington. We pulled in to town and stopped to gas up as a convoy of military aircraft flew over for that, including Stealths (bomber and fighters) and a B1B. Super cool vibe for that coincidence to happen..

 

[Seldomski]

Some are blaming 5G, but I'm guessing other issues.

5G is a legit issue for aircraft.

https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-statements-5g

Edit - unlikely this was an issue for mineral basin, I just mean in general that cell signals and planes have legit interference issues.