Official Report Indicates No Fault On Part Of The Aircrew

The official investigation into the downing of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan on August 6th indicates that the aircrew was not at fault for the accident. The aircraft was brought down by a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) fired by Taliban militants with 38 people fatally injured.

File Photo

According to the official findings, the aircrew did not fly into a trap set by the insurgents. "The shoot down was not the result of a baited ambush, but rather the result of the enemy being at a heightened state of alert due to 3 1/2 hours of ongoing coalition air operations concentrated over the northwestern portion of the Tangi Valley" in Wardak province, US Brigadier General Jeffrey Colt wrote in an executive summary of the report.

The report says that the first shot missed the Chinook, but a second RPG hit the helo's aft rotor blade, causing the aircraft to go down in a dry creek bed. A post-impact fire ensued resulting in secondary explosions from fuel and munitions.

There were two helicopters assigned to the mission, but the entire Immediate Reaction Force (IRF) was on board one of the aircraft. Colt wrote in the summary that "the decision to load the IRF onto one CH-47D in order to mitigate risk by minimizing aircraft exposure to ground fire and to mass the assault task force was tactically sound." He also said what while the task force commander did not reallocate the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft in advance of the mission, it was not the cause of the shoot-down. 

22 members of an elite SEAL team were lost in the crash, as well as other U.S. and Afghan military personal and an Afghan interpreter. It was the largest number of casualties in a single day for the U.S. in the 10 year war in Afghanistan.

FMI: Read The Report