Missing Ugandan Helicopters
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
Missing Ugandan Helicopters
To lose one is an accident, as Lady Bracknell might say.....
BBC: Uganda military searches for missing helicopters
A search is under way in Kenya for two Ugandan military helicopters which have gone missing.
The helicopters were among four which were due to make a stop in the Kenyan town of Wajir, but only one did so. A Kenyan defence department spokesman told the BBC a pilot of another of the helicopters has contacted the department from Mount Kenya.
The aircraft were part of a contingent being sent to reinforce the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.
It was not known whether the helicopter of the pilot who contacted Kenyan defence officials had crashed or had landed safely, Kenyan defence department spokesman Bogita Ongeri told the BBC. The Kenyan army has launched a land and air rescue operation but it is being hampered by bad weather, Mr Ongeri added.
It is not clear exactly how many people were on board the helicopters.
"The search is going on, we don't know what exactly happened but we are investigating it," Ugandan military spokesman Felix Kulayigye told Reuters......
BBC: Uganda military searches for missing helicopters
A search is under way in Kenya for two Ugandan military helicopters which have gone missing.
The helicopters were among four which were due to make a stop in the Kenyan town of Wajir, but only one did so. A Kenyan defence department spokesman told the BBC a pilot of another of the helicopters has contacted the department from Mount Kenya.
The aircraft were part of a contingent being sent to reinforce the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.
It was not known whether the helicopter of the pilot who contacted Kenyan defence officials had crashed or had landed safely, Kenyan defence department spokesman Bogita Ongeri told the BBC. The Kenyan army has launched a land and air rescue operation but it is being hampered by bad weather, Mr Ongeri added.
It is not clear exactly how many people were on board the helicopters.
"The search is going on, we don't know what exactly happened but we are investigating it," Ugandan military spokesman Felix Kulayigye told Reuters......
Last edited by ORAC; 13th Aug 2012 at 08:27.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
UPDF helicopters located, pilot sends SOS
The four UPDF helicopters that had reportedly gone missing on Sunday as they flew to Somalia to shore up the final attack on the port city of Kismayu have been located, army spokesperson Felix Kulaigye has confirmed.
Kulaigye said there were no fatalities. He explained the choppers did not crash as earlier reported but made what he described as a ‘hard landing’........
The four UPDF helicopters that had reportedly gone missing on Sunday as they flew to Somalia to shore up the final attack on the port city of Kismayu have been located, army spokesperson Felix Kulaigye has confirmed.
Kulaigye said there were no fatalities. He explained the choppers did not crash as earlier reported but made what he described as a ‘hard landing’........
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Picture at THE FIRST IMAGES of Uganda helicopter crash have been release... on Twitpic . Looks like the pilot who is reported to have back injuries . All the other 7 OK.
Bit more than a hard landing I think. 2 copters still missing and it is dark and cold there now.
Bit more than a hard landing I think. 2 copters still missing and it is dark and cold there now.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
Missing choppers: Uganda, Kenya join forces in search
Uganda Air Force experts and the Kenya Defence Forces continue to search for two Ugandan helicopters and their military occupants believed to have crashed in the jungles on Mount Kenya. The team is led by air force chief of staff Brig. Moses Rwakitarate and Kenyan military officers from the Lakipia Airbase. Sources said the team moved to support an evacuation mission at Nanyuki Airstrip.
Seven officers, who were rescued from the helicopter which crash-landed in bad weather on the slopes of Mt. Kenya, have since received first aid at the airstrip.
According to press agencies, Ben Simpson, a private pilot of Tropic Air, and the first person to respond to the SOS call, took it upon himself to salvage the soldiers in the ill-fated helicopter. “The chopper crashed in the southern part of Mt. Kenya and all the seven people on board are alive, but the captain has serious back injuries. The chopper’s body is badly damaged, but the engine is intact. The propellers’ shafts are gone,” Simpson told journalists at Nanyuki Airstrip after delivering four of the seven soldiers. Though weary, the rescued officers, clutching their AK 47 rifles and still in their uniforms, looked confident and happy to be alive.
Four combat helicopters, including three Mi-24s and one Mi-17, had taken off from Soroti on Sunday to Eldoret on the way to Somalia to assist African Union forces fighting al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab insurgents. They landed at Eldoret and later left for Nanyuki, where they were scheduled to refuel before flying to Garissa.
“The pilots landed safely in Nanyuki at 4:00pm and headed for Garissa, where they were expected to land at 6:00pm,” UPDF spokesperson Maj. Felix Kulayigye said. “One of them (Mi-17) landed successfully in Garissa, but there was no trace of the other three (Mi-24),” he said. “The two helicopters had not been seen. I think there were five people in each,” Kulayigye added.
But other sources said 14 soldiers were aboard the two choppers...........
The helicopters are feared to have crashed or made emergency landings in the dense forested foothills of snowcapped Mt. Kenya, Africa’s second highest peak at 5,199 metres (17,057 feet). Wild animals, including elephants, leopards and rhinos, prowl the forests, about 110 kilometre (70 miles) north of the capital Nairobi.
In 2007, after a helicopter crashed in a similar area, it took rescue teams eight days to track down the pilot, who had survived by eating leaves and drinking his urine.........
Uganda Air Force experts and the Kenya Defence Forces continue to search for two Ugandan helicopters and their military occupants believed to have crashed in the jungles on Mount Kenya. The team is led by air force chief of staff Brig. Moses Rwakitarate and Kenyan military officers from the Lakipia Airbase. Sources said the team moved to support an evacuation mission at Nanyuki Airstrip.
Seven officers, who were rescued from the helicopter which crash-landed in bad weather on the slopes of Mt. Kenya, have since received first aid at the airstrip.
According to press agencies, Ben Simpson, a private pilot of Tropic Air, and the first person to respond to the SOS call, took it upon himself to salvage the soldiers in the ill-fated helicopter. “The chopper crashed in the southern part of Mt. Kenya and all the seven people on board are alive, but the captain has serious back injuries. The chopper’s body is badly damaged, but the engine is intact. The propellers’ shafts are gone,” Simpson told journalists at Nanyuki Airstrip after delivering four of the seven soldiers. Though weary, the rescued officers, clutching their AK 47 rifles and still in their uniforms, looked confident and happy to be alive.
Four combat helicopters, including three Mi-24s and one Mi-17, had taken off from Soroti on Sunday to Eldoret on the way to Somalia to assist African Union forces fighting al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab insurgents. They landed at Eldoret and later left for Nanyuki, where they were scheduled to refuel before flying to Garissa.
“The pilots landed safely in Nanyuki at 4:00pm and headed for Garissa, where they were expected to land at 6:00pm,” UPDF spokesperson Maj. Felix Kulayigye said. “One of them (Mi-17) landed successfully in Garissa, but there was no trace of the other three (Mi-24),” he said. “The two helicopters had not been seen. I think there were five people in each,” Kulayigye added.
But other sources said 14 soldiers were aboard the two choppers...........
The helicopters are feared to have crashed or made emergency landings in the dense forested foothills of snowcapped Mt. Kenya, Africa’s second highest peak at 5,199 metres (17,057 feet). Wild animals, including elephants, leopards and rhinos, prowl the forests, about 110 kilometre (70 miles) north of the capital Nairobi.
In 2007, after a helicopter crashed in a similar area, it took rescue teams eight days to track down the pilot, who had survived by eating leaves and drinking his urine.........
More here, including further photos of the crash site: Rescuers find one Ugandan copter gunship at crash site in Mount Kenya - PhotoBlog
No evidence of a post crash fire - and the structural strength of the Mi-24 seems to have been sufficient to have allowed them all to survive.
Let's hope that the missing personnel have been equally fortunate.
UPDATE: The burnt wreckage of two Ugandan army helicopters was found Tuesday, two days after crashing in a remote mountainous region of Kenya while flying to war-torn Somalia, army officials said.
"The aircraft have been found but they are all burnt," a senior Kenyan military official said. "We do not know the fate of the crew." Kenyan army spokesman Bogita Ongeri confirmed the aircraft had been found.
More at Missing Ugandan coppers found, all burnt
(Clearly 'coppers' is a typo and should read 'choppers'.)
No evidence of a post crash fire - and the structural strength of the Mi-24 seems to have been sufficient to have allowed them all to survive.
Let's hope that the missing personnel have been equally fortunate.
UPDATE: The burnt wreckage of two Ugandan army helicopters was found Tuesday, two days after crashing in a remote mountainous region of Kenya while flying to war-torn Somalia, army officials said.
"The aircraft have been found but they are all burnt," a senior Kenyan military official said. "We do not know the fate of the crew." Kenyan army spokesman Bogita Ongeri confirmed the aircraft had been found.
More at Missing Ugandan coppers found, all burnt
(Clearly 'coppers' is a typo and should read 'choppers'.)
Last edited by BEagle; 14th Aug 2012 at 08:28.
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: wallop
Posts: 338
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
A difficult and demanding area to fly in. The weather on the foothills of Mount Kenya can be cheeky and easily exceeded the performance capability of the wheezy Lynx 7 and it's crews!
Groping around in low cloud is no fun, navigation difficult and at low speed.....performance generally limited!
I have spent two hours and two refuels one horrible night trying to find a way back to Nanyuki with a snake bite victim onboard. Horrible weather like the emerald isle, v poor maps, **** loads of unlit 150' masts, and aircraft working very hard, and no IMC option...... No fun.
That area is not to be underestimated, ask ND about flying into Kathendini in a Gz all those years ago!
Ralph
Groping around in low cloud is no fun, navigation difficult and at low speed.....performance generally limited!
I have spent two hours and two refuels one horrible night trying to find a way back to Nanyuki with a snake bite victim onboard. Horrible weather like the emerald isle, v poor maps, **** loads of unlit 150' masts, and aircraft working very hard, and no IMC option...... No fun.
That area is not to be underestimated, ask ND about flying into Kathendini in a Gz all those years ago!
Ralph
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What is the ceiling of a Mi-24? Some of the press reports were talking about finding a crash site >12,000 feet up. In situations like this is it not prudent to turn 180 degrees and head back the way you came away from the peak, assuming you have time between realising you are lost in weather and actually ploughing in? Or is a Mi-24 unflyable in cloud?
Long time ago I worked for an operator (I am not a pilot) that lost a Cessna in the Ngong Hills near Nairobi. The pilot misnavigated in cloud and did not make it over the top. All lost. Not an easy place to fly but at least one has GPS these days.
Long time ago I worked for an operator (I am not a pilot) that lost a Cessna in the Ngong Hills near Nairobi. The pilot misnavigated in cloud and did not make it over the top. All lost. Not an easy place to fly but at least one has GPS these days.
Last edited by fchan; 14th Aug 2012 at 13:23.
Around big hills, the 'turn back' option is never as easy as it sounds.
If you can't operate higher than the terrain due oxygen, aircraft performance or whatever, your option is to fly through the area using gaps and valleys.
If cloud is forming around those areas, or vis is bad in heavy rain etc, you can find yourself forced close to the ground, crawling from clear space to clear space and possibly getting trapped in a valley if it clags in at both ends.
There may be no landing site (thick trees etc). The valley you're in may get too narrow to easily turn in. You may not have the performance to hover if you're heavy and high.
Worse, if you inadvertently enter cloud close to the terrain (easy enough to do) you must either get visual again quickly (descent is likely to fly you straight into the ground), or navigate a safe course out in IMC (climbing or continuing level in cloud will probably fly you into the hillside).
There are ways to keep yourself safe (always have an escape route behind you, don't press into a narrow valley that you can't turn in etc etc), but it's only too easy to get squeezed into some predicament and have to work your way out of it. If you didn't launch in bad weather in some places, you'd never get anything done, so a compromise between the pressure to get a job done and the need to fly safely develops.
With IFR capable aeroplanes on air routes, the decision-making process is generally clear cut and relatively straightforward. For the helicopter crew in bad weather around big hills, it's a constantly evolving battle against conditions and circumstance.
If you can't operate higher than the terrain due oxygen, aircraft performance or whatever, your option is to fly through the area using gaps and valleys.
If cloud is forming around those areas, or vis is bad in heavy rain etc, you can find yourself forced close to the ground, crawling from clear space to clear space and possibly getting trapped in a valley if it clags in at both ends.
There may be no landing site (thick trees etc). The valley you're in may get too narrow to easily turn in. You may not have the performance to hover if you're heavy and high.
Worse, if you inadvertently enter cloud close to the terrain (easy enough to do) you must either get visual again quickly (descent is likely to fly you straight into the ground), or navigate a safe course out in IMC (climbing or continuing level in cloud will probably fly you into the hillside).
There are ways to keep yourself safe (always have an escape route behind you, don't press into a narrow valley that you can't turn in etc etc), but it's only too easy to get squeezed into some predicament and have to work your way out of it. If you didn't launch in bad weather in some places, you'd never get anything done, so a compromise between the pressure to get a job done and the need to fly safely develops.
With IFR capable aeroplanes on air routes, the decision-making process is generally clear cut and relatively straightforward. For the helicopter crew in bad weather around big hills, it's a constantly evolving battle against conditions and circumstance.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
Eight Ugandans survive army helicopter crash; two dead
Eight Ugandan servicemen walked away from their helicopter after it crashed in Kenya en route to war-torn Somalia while two soldiers were confirmed dead in another crash, officials said Tuesday.
Theirs were among three Russian-made Mi-24 combat helicopters that went down Sunday in a remote mountainous region of Kenya. One was found on Monday, with all seven servicemen on board rescued. Uganda has blamed poor weather for the crashes.
"We have rescued eight survivors," said Simon Gitau, a senior warden with the Kenya Wildlife Service, which is involved in the rescue operation. "All of them were in the helicopter that crashed but did not catch fire." The eight survivors found Tuesday had trekked some five miles (eight kilometres) through dense forests in search of help."They are in good condition after walking away from the crash site," Gitau said. "All of them have been airlifted to safety," he said, adding: "We are now using sniffer dogs to help trace more survivors, if any, in the forest."...........
Wreckage of the two helicopters were found early Tuesday morning, with two dead bodies sighted in one that was still on fire. "The helicopter is still burning, but we do not know if those were the only two soldiers inside or if there are others. We are yet to confirm that," Gitau added. It had earlier been reported that both aircraft had been burnt.
Uganda said that at least 14 servicemen were thought to have been aboard the two ill-fated helicopters. If that estimate is accurate, then four remain unaccounted for............
