extortion 17 crash photos extortion 17 crash photos

The duo may also have had no ties to Tahir or any of his suspected fighters, and attacked the helicopter on their own. He said: "They wanted to attack our Mujahideen who were in a house, but our Mujahideen resisted and destroyed a helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade. [9][10][11] After a 20-minute flight (around 23:00), the two Chinook helicopters landed near the compound ostensibly containing Tahir, offloaded the Ranger platoon and returned to base. Their deaths are the greatest single loss of life ever suffered by the U.S. Special Operations community in the 24-year history of the U.S. Special Operations Command. The call sign for the Chinook was Extortion 17. AC-130 gunships orbiting overhead directed two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to fire on and kill five enemy fighters. ", "Taliban laid trap for Chinook: official", "Honor Roll: Remembering the 30 U.S. Patrick D. Hamburger, 30, of Lincoln, Neb. LOL, Ray Williams 509th RRCUV (Army Security Agency) Feb68-Apr71. But no one died. Whether enemy fire brought down the Chinook or a tree strike would never be known for sure. The group fired 2-3 RPG rounds from a two-story building from a location some 220 meters south of the helicopter. Thirty-eight boarded Extortion 17 Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter pilots from the 159th General Support Aviation Battalion. Less than five seconds after the RPG round hit, the helicopter spun uncontrollably, plummeting into a dry creek bed and erupting in a ball of fire that killed all on board. So many unsettling details are coalescing with the resurgence of Extortion 17. Your Privacy Rights David Tarrant, The Dallas Morning News Were asking people to do incredible things. Should the Apache pilots have fired into the stand of trees after the two fighters ducked out of sight? They reached the site at 04:12 and found no survivors. All three airmen were assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, North Carolina. According to officials, the team included 17 SEALs, five Navy special operations troops who support the SEALs, three Air Force airmen, a five-member Army air crew and a military dog, along with. Theyre going after in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. Explore. Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. Advertising Notice Neither did the risk he and his pilots faced every night. They may have seen Extortion 17 and its landing zone through their own night vision goggles or simply aimed by sound alone. We had guys who had flown in Desert Storm, guys who had just come off active duty, Lee said. Gold Star father Bill Vaughn had a heartfelt message to American "leaders" while discussing a documentary that investigates the Extortion 17 helicopter crash in Afghanistan. At 31 U.S. military personnel killed, the shoot down of Extortion 17 represents the greatest single-incident loss of U.S. lives in Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan, surpassing the 16. In order to prevent this, American forces called in for support. The crash claimed the lives of 38 personnel, including 22 special operations forces in Afghanistan Aug. 6, 2011. He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. Lee had just flown the night before on a similar mission with one of the pilots, David Carter. Six weeks into his deployment, Lee experienced his worst day as a helicopter pilot to that point. Air & Space/Smithsonian contributing editor Ed Darack is the author of The Warriors of Anbar; War Moments; The Final Mission of Extortion 17; Victory Point; and three other books. [citation needed] Doubts about this story were raised by families and other concerned citizens despite the fact that the Navy SEAL team aboard Extortion 17 was a different squadron than that which had killed Osama bin Laden three months earlier. Nichols had deployed three times to combat zones, and Carter, with more than 4,000 hours of flight time, was one of the most experienced helicopter pilots in the U.S. military. Instead, two rigorous U. S. military investigations followed every moment of the mission to determine what went wrong on Extortion 17s final flight. There's also that little issue that came up when 6 Navy SEALs' funerals were conducted by a Muslim Cleric that condemned them to Hell during the service. In March 2009, the U.S. 10th Mountain Division established a base in Tangi Valley after increased Taliban activity in the area. A Taliban fighter shot the helicopter out of the sky with a rocket-propelled grenade and all aboard were killedthe single greatest loss of American life in the Afghan war. The mission was flown by conventional pilots flying unmodified CH-47Ds. Conspiracy theories started almost immediately. [7][20][21], Fifteen of the Navy SEALs that were killed were members of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU),[5][22][20] while the other two Navy SEALs were from an unidentified West Coast-based unit. Intelligence had revealed Tahir to be the senior Taliban chief of the Tangi Valley region, with probable ties to upper-echelon Taliban leadership in Pakistan. Photo: We pay Tribute Chief Petty Officer Nicholas H. Null Operation Extortion 17 August 6, 2011 You may leave a condolence for his family on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/L2lB37qizaI Comebacks Photo Photo: We pay Tribute to Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Stephen M. Mills Operation Extortion 17 August 6, 2011 Battalion Regiment Warrant Officer As the ground assault force rushed toward Tahirs compound, Extortion 17 and 16 sped back to base, where they were refueled, and awaited word to extract the team, evacuate wounded, or race reinforcing troops to Juy Zarin. Now deep in the Tangi Valley, their night vision goggles showing the world around them in greenish hues, the IRF team members readied to hit the ground running as the pilots slowed Extortion 17 and descended toward the village. The 30 American deaths represent the greatest loss of U.S. military lives in a single incident in the decade-long war in Afghanistan that began in 2001. The crash killed all 38 people on board including 25 American special operations personnel, five United States Army National Guard and Army Reserve crewmen, seven Afghan commandos, and one Afghan interpreter as well as a U.S. military working dog. On board the Chinook CH-47D were 15 members of SEAL Team Six, 15 SEAL Team Six Support personnel, 1 Bomb Dog, 7 . But the CH-47D has neither a flight nor voice recorder, only an engine performance data recorder for maintenance. Sgt. [43][45], 2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shootdown, United States Air Force Combat Control Team, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Tangi Valley, Wardak province, Afghanistan, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, Naval Special Warfare Development Group's, Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians, United States House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, Call Sign Extortion 17: The Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six, List of aviation accidents and incidents in the war in Afghanistan, "Elite Force Died in Bid to Save Comrades", "Taliban shot that brought down American Chinook killing 30 US commandos was 'lucky', officials believe", "Taliban shoot down US helicopter in Afghanistan; 38 killed", "Worst US loss of life in Afghan war as helicopter crash kills 38", "US military helicopter crash in Afghanistan kills 38", Executive Summary (Crash of CH-47D Aircraft in Wardak Province, Afghanistan on 6 August 2011), "Families suspect SEAL Team 6 crash was inside job on worst day in Afghanistan", "DOD Identifies Service Members Killed in CH-47 Crash", "Tragedy devastates special warfare community", "Friends remember three area soldiers killed in Afghan crash", "Chinook Crewmembers Line of Duty Deaths", "US special forces Afghan helicopter downed by Taliban", "Chopper crash kills 31 U.S. troops, 7 Afghans", "Copter Downed by Taliban Fire; Elite U.S. Unit Among Dead", "Impact on special forces of Navy Seals helicopter loss", "SEAL Team 6 Families Believe the 2011 Chinook Shootdown in Afghanistan was Planned | Navy SEALs Blog by USNavySEALs.com", "Army delayed Chinook helicopter's black box until it was too late", "Obama stonewalls SEAL Team 6 helicopter crash probe, watchdog says", "US helicopter shot down in Afghanistan was sent in after night raid went awry", "US military probes deadly Afghan helicopter crash", "What happened on night of deadly Afghanistan helicopter crash? The 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. It is also the most disastrous incident in the. The theories suggest that Afghan forces leaked information to the Taliban about the mission. "One. The CH-47 "Chinook" was carrying some of this nation's bravest and most capable military . Regarding the downing of Extortion 17, all of the DEVGRU Operators aboard were members of the Gold Squadron. Enterprise. The Tangi Valley is a strategic terrain that connects the two primary highways that lead to Kabul. At 10:58 p.m., they were inserted by the same CH-47D helicopters that would later conduct the mission to insert the SEAL team. As the operation got underway, our airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, including an MQ-9 Predator, detected a group evading the Rangers, moving towards the north. When the auto-complete results are available, use the up and down arrows to review and Enter to select. Another tactic sometimes employed by gunships, according to Glover, is a show of force, in which pilots and crew fire into an empty field or stand of trees just before a transport helicopter prepares to land, using the sound of a gun alone to keep enemy heads down and fingers off triggers. The second slammed into one of the Chinooks rear rotor blades and exploded, severing 10 feet of it. So if there was a added black box installed on this Aircraft there should be a maintenance record? Its the worst day in our history by a mile.. [45] McChrystal cited a previous "overreliance on firepower and force protection" and the need to reduce civilian casualties and win the cooperation of the local population. Should the Apaches, or the AC-130 overhead, have fired upon the groups of suspected Taliban that gathered in the village after the raid began? The SEAL task force was monitoring this activity, and they were soon called upon to deploy quickly into the northern end of the valley to intercept Tahir and capture him and those moving with him. At 2:36 a.m., Extortion 17 requested an infrared spotlight, visible only through night vision goggles, to illuminate the landing zone. Create an account. One AH-64 crew, after identifying the men as enemy combatants, fired on them with their gunships 30mm cannon, killing six. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), Aurora, Colorado, Chief Warrant Officer Bryan J. Nichols, 31, of Hays, Kan. The forward rotor system then tore off, stressed by the imbalance and the strain of carrying what would normally be a shared load. He is the founder of Darack Research, a company that innovates unmanned systems, which grew out of his July 2014 Air & Space article Build Your Own Drone. The co-pilot, Bryan Nichols, was one of Lees closest friends in the Chinook company. An official investigation found no evidence of a pre-planned ambush, though it did suggest that other helicopter activity in the area could have tipped off Taliban fighters that more helicopters could be approaching, according to the report. They were part of his command. He finished his contract with the Army shortly afterward, and that September enrolled in Southern Methodist Universitys Dedman School of Law. The helicopter fell from the sky, killing all 38 on board. The first round sailed past the helicopter. In combat, its mission is to transport large teams of elite assault troops, including Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, to and from the battlefield. Their deaths are the greatest single loss of life ever suffered by the U.S. Special Operations community in the 24-year history of the U.S. Special Operations Command.[5][22][15][23]. And why was the fire control officer of the AC-130 Gunship flying above denied permission . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. But Tahir and a group of his fighters escaped. Save up to 30% when you upgrade to an image pack. When the shock subsided, questions arose and persisted. Their target: an Afghan named Qari Tahir and his group of fighters. Spec Ops Magazine 2023 All Rights Reserved. Extortion 17 was attached to a mission to capture or kill a senior Taliban leader, Qari Tahir, near Kabul, Afghanistan. On August 6, 2011, a U.S. Boeing CH-47 Chinook military helicopter was shot down while transporting a quick reaction force attempting to reinforce an engaged unit of Army Rangers in Wardak province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan. It would never return. According to Glover, improved systems in place enable U.S. forces to monitor a target for days or even weeks prior to an operation, so they theoretically will know of even well-hidden potential RPG shooters throughout a village before transport helicopters first touch down. Available for both RF and RM licensing. [11], By 16:25, all of the remains were taken from the crash site via ground convoy and transported to Combat Outpost Sayyid Abad. Through the goggles, the landing zone shone brilliantly. The Extortion 17 chopper was part of Operation Neptune Spear a few months earlier. Having studied and directly observed the counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan, Ive watched commanders and individual American troops consistently lean far to the side of restraint to encourage Afghans to side with American interests long after U.S. forces have left. The SEAL Team 6 community was devastated. The reality is, every time a helicopter lifts off the ground in a war zone, it might get shot down, Darack said. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Geneva G. Brier/Released) We were told at that time we were the first unit to make it through a rotation without having anyone killed.. As they started their descent, Lee heard a loud popping noise. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos Lees second deployment started in May of 2011. God sees you, You do see that A-12(1963! But one thing that doesnt fade is never forgetting what they did.. Don Brown, a former U.S. Navy JAG officer stationed at the Pentagon, and former Special Assistant United . [1][2][3][4], The resulting crash killed all 38 people on board including 17 US Navy SEALs, two United States Air Force Pararescue, one United States Air Force Combat Control Team member, one pilot and two crewmen of the United States Army Reserve, one pilot and one crewman of the United States Army National Guard, seven members of the Afghan National Security Forces, and one Afghan interpreter. The downing of the Seal Team Six chinook with all of those team members who participated in the Bin Laden raid and the subsequent request by President Obama to destroy the images that were released only adds to the suspicion around the events.