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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Navy loses more aircraft to rough weather |
| 2022-07-29 |
| [USNI News] At least 10 Navy helicopters were damaged in a sudden storm that blew through Norfolk Naval Station, Va., Tuesday afternoon, USNI News has learned. Don't they tie these things down? According to a Navy initial assessment reviewed by USNI News, the storm resulted in 10 Class A ground mishaps — mishaps that result in more than $2.5 million in damage or the total loss of the aircraft. "The Navy is continuing to assess the full extent of the damages to each airframe, but there are no impacts to operational forces as a result of this incident," Cmdr. Rob Myers with Naval Air Forces Atlantic told USNI News in a statement. "Known damages to the aircraft span from broken tail and rotor blades to structural dents and punctures in the airframes. No personnel were injured during the storm." The helicopters damaged were five MH-60S Knight Hawks, one MH-60R Sea Hawk and four MH-53E Sea Dragon mine countermeasures helicopters, according to the assessment. The Navy has about 30 of the mine hunting Sea Dragons in its inventory, according to the most recent data from Naval Air Systems Command. The service has delayed retiring aging helicopters as the Navy has been slow to develop a new airborne mine-hunting platform. At least four of the multi-million-dollar helicopters — one MH-53E and three MH-60s — were blown over by the wind, according to images of the damage circulating on social media. |
| Posted by:M. Murcek |
| #11 I don't think you can tie them down ashore. What nonsense! Every NAS airfield I have ever been on has padeyes in the aircraft flight lines. |
| Posted by: Tyranysaurus Jones4656 2022-07-29 21:53 |
| #10 Like....how banged up? -looks in wallet- |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-07-29 17:11 |
| #9 "You! Cease and desist!" "I'm not Yu, I am a Xi!" "Oh sorry, Miss. But we insist." "Miss? Son of a whore! [unzips pants and pees] Here's how China resist!" |
| Posted by: Dron66046 2022-07-29 15:13 |
| #8 Hope that the USA has a magic secret weapon in his arse..nal Yeah - I hear we have a special super-elite battalion which is practicing calling people by improper pronouns even as we speak. That'll show them! |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2022-07-29 15:02 |
| #7 Lol and this is the navy that wants fight China? Hope that the USA has a magic secret weapon in his arse..nal |
| Posted by: ACA JOE 2022-07-29 14:58 |
| #6 Embarrassingly, the Atlantic Fleet Weather Center is at the Norfolk Base. |
| Posted by: Lord Garth 2022-07-29 14:28 |
| #5 My understanding is there was an order given to tie down the aircraft, and the winds started flipping them 12 minutes later. Plus, during an active thunderstorm, they're required to call personell in to avoid lightning hazards. So the guys with the tie down chains are standing in the hangar videoing the birds flipping. Which is where the pictures came from. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2022-07-29 14:21 |
| #4 Time for fire sale. Perhaps a Biden move give them away to Ukraine. |
| Posted by: Dale 2022-07-29 08:56 |
| #3 Nothing compared to having a tornado rip through an Air Force base. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-07-29 06:49 |
| #2 ...The birds were on the ramp at Norfolk; they aren't normally tied down while ashore - in fact, I don't think you can tie them down ashore. The idea is that the weather guys give you enough warning that you can get the birds under some kind of cover or fly them out. Clearly that didn't happen here, and that may unfortunately come under the heading of 'one of those things'. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2022-07-29 04:53 |
| #1 The woke morons won't tie their planes down because it's racist to enslave the planes. |
| Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance 2022-07-29 02:43 |