Not certain, but I think this happened 4 Sep 07
All BATSUB helicopters are grounded tonight after a Bell 212 crashed yesterday in an un-inhabited area south of the Maxboro housing community.
Two pilots were on board and they were doing landing drills in an empty shrimp pond on the Nova Farms Compound. Eyewitnesses say the nose of the Bell helicopter dipped too much forward, and its blades touched the ground. That caused the helicopter to flail to the ground and burst into flames. Both pilots escaped without any serious injury.
Commanding Officer for BATSUB in Belize Lt. Col. Peter Germaine confirmed that the helicopter started service in Belize in 2003. BATSUB has two others: one is working, but grounded as a precaution, and another is undergoing maintenance.
Because the copters are so widely relied upon for training British and BDF Forces, and mostly for emergency medical evacuations, Lt. Col. Germaine says the working one should be cleared tomorrow, and they will try to get the other and working by next week.
He confirmed that both pilots have gone for MRI tests and have no serious injuries. He says one of them is a qualified instructor and the other pilot was new to Belize and was undergoing required training to familiarize himself with flying and environmental conditions in Belize. They should both be back in the air next week, he adds.
A team of British investigators have been brought in to determine the cause of the crash. Germaine confirmed that it is the first serious accident with a British military helicopter in Belize.
It seems the fatal Puma crash at Salamanca has been forgotten by the locals, and the Sioux that fell off Cadenas was pretty serious although unmanned at the time. I know Belize is a little behind the 21st century, but how did this one not get mentioned on a military forum? Griffins have not been grounded, because I saw one yesterday