Poor guys, never stood a chance
 

Syrian Helicopter downed

http://cdnvideos.telegraph.co.uk/NhN...geo_country=GB

Syrian helicopter reportedly downed by rebels over Idlib - World News

What is wrong with Islam, in that they seem to be unable to negotiate without resorting to violence?

Why "poor guys"? They are military, carrying ordinance by the look of that explosion to use on the rebels that shot them down. They weren't thinking "Poor guys" when they use that ordinance.

AA
 

I see your point but they were just following orders like every other soldier is when he does bad things. It's not their fault that their Generals (and politicians) are a bunch of nutjobs.
Despite the fact I think the Syrian regime have completely lost the plot, it's still a shame when fellow aviators are killed.
BV:(

Hmm, the Nuremberg (or 'Superior Orders') Defence.

Very sticky ground and one where an individual has to weigh up which is more serious, possible breach of national law (for refusing an order) or possible breach of international law (for carrying out an order).

I agree Helpful Stacker (we had a similar discussion about the rights and wrongs of 'following orders' in a previous thread relating to the shooting down of a Syrian helicopter).

Out of interest, is it not national law to disobey an unlawful order?

Yup - I'd call that a kill.

That looked like a fairly high shot. Anyone know what the missile was? Have they got some decent SAMs?

Why? Because he has compassion for fellow human beings.

Crikey. At first I thought this was another view of the shootdown seen last month, but when I saw the end result this clearly is a new event.

That was quite some explosion, much bigger than I would expect from a manpad (of which I could see no trail) or fuel tanks going up. If it was ordnance on the aircraft cooking off then what the hell were the carrying.

It's sometimes quite difficult to tell who are the goodies and who are the baddies in conflicts like this, but regardless I think most military aviators have a level of mutual respect even across lines of conflict, and so yes, poor guys. As an ex RW mate, that was pretty horrible to watch.

I said poor guys because regardless of beliefs or sides at the end of the day they are fellow human beings who for what ever reason are caught up in a war and their final moments in that must have been horrific. He almost made it.

Yep - the last few moments of the crew must have been unbelievably terrifying. Whilst not defending their actions supporting the Assad regime, it was still a pretty horrible way to go. Not nice.

I am trying to figure out whether or not he was in control of the aircraft as he descended. Main rotor seems to be turning, likely (if a MANPAD is what got him) weapon impact was aft of, or in the aft portion of the cabi.

I base this on where the smoke seemed to be coming out.

(Was engine on the right side shot off? Was it on fire? Spiraling flight path makes it hard to figure out. Were both engines hit?)

Was he flying in a circle in the belief that he'd be dodging missiles (or a further missile?) on the way down?

Was the pilot hit? Was there damage to the control linkage?

Was his tail rotor no longer providing anti torque (i/e severed shaft/cables/servos)?

Was he trying to autorotate down?

A lot of flying questions that the explosion rendered moot rather suddenly.

As an ex-helo jock, that one hits rather close to home.

I do hope none of the debris hurt anyone on the ground - unless it was Assad's lot.

I suspect the 'final moments in that' were pretty short-lived. Good way to go.

Who are the 'poor guys'?

Are they the ones raining down terror or the civilians?

Answers on a postcard.

Good grief.

Hips are used firing rockets in previous videos on YouTube. Probably cooked off.

I suspect the pilot had the choice of obey an illegal order or your family gets shot, you get shot, then we send someone else anyway.

There's nothing civil about civil wars.

Hear, hear!

Cool smoke ring!

I love the way everybody thinks the FSA are great and aren't a bunch of islamist terrorists in the making (or made) :ugh:

Some of the FSA videos online are little better than the ****e AQ put out.

Avitor,

Why on earth single out Islam. Are you aware of Christian history? Pretty bloody stuff.

Probably the fuel tank exploding? See following footage of Syrian Mi-8 with internal fuel tank visible.