USAF Releases Report In Okinawa Helicopter Accident | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.21.25

Airborne-NextGen-04.22.25

AirborneUnlimited-04.23.25

Airborne-FltTraining-04.24.25

AirborneUnlimited-04.25.25

Wed, Jan 22, 2014

USAF Releases Report In Okinawa Helicopter Accident

Incident Raised Concerns In Japan Over U.S. Military Aircraft

The U.S. Air Force has released a report following the investigation of an accident involving an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter that resulted in the fatal injury of one of the service members on board.

The aircraft went down in a jungle training area on the island of Okinawa August 5. The report indicates that the accident came during training for pararescuemen for a deployment in Afghanistan. The pilot initiated a low-altitude maneuver because he erroneously thought he was about to collide with another helicopter, according to the report. The aircraft impacted the ground and a post-impact fire ensued. The accident fatally injured decorated flight engineer Air Force Tech Sgt. Mark Smith.

Stars and Stripes reports that 18th Mission Support Group commander Col. Jeffery Ullman said that the pilot "misjudged the situation," and that there were no mechanical issues with the Pave Hawk.

The accident also led to heightened tensions between the U.S. and Japanese governments over the basing of U.S. military aircraft in Japan. A U.S. helicopter had gone down in 2004 at an island university, and Japanese citizens were protesting the arrival of MV-22 Osprey aircraft at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

(HH-60G image from file)

FMI: www.af.mil

Advertisement

More News

FAA Rescinds Onerous Medical Denial Policy

Pivots To Educating Pilots On Facilitating Applications On April 23, the acting administrator of the FAA announced that the agency will not move ahead with its policy of issuing de>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (04.28.25)

“While legendary World War II aircraft such as the Corsair and P-51 Mustang still were widely flown at the start of the Korean War in 1950, a new age of jets rapidly came to >[...]

Klyde Morris (04.28.25)

Klyde Will Not Be Denied Access To His Sports... FMI: www.klydemorris.com>[...]

Boom Gears Up to Test Symphony Engine in Colorado

Supersonic Manufacturer Selects Colorado Air and Space Port for Testing Boom Supersonic, manufacturer of the XB-1 jet, recently announced that it would be using the Colorado Air an>[...]

Airmen Medical Applications Hit Record Numbers

Agency Seeks Public Advice as the Medical Process Grows Overwhelmed As airmen medical applications reach an all-time high, the FAA is turning to the public to review questions, com>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC