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| Europe |
| Helicopters flew too low in incident over Italian beach |
| 2003-10-27 |
| From the Department of Reading Between The Lines: Army helicopters involved in an incident in Italy more than 14 months ago were flying too low and failed to obey requirements for navigating across the country, U.S. Army Europe officials announced Friday. USAREUR officials acknowledge a report into the incident â which took place Aug. 14, 2002, in the coastal city of Barletta â was completed more than eight months ago. But it wonât be released until potential civil action by Italian authorities is resolved. So, what happened? The helicopters, heading from their base in Germany, were on their way to a deployment in the Balkans. The crews spent the night of Aug. 13 at Aviano Air Base before continuing their journey south. While flying over a beach in Barletta, the helicoptersâ rotor blades stirred up sand and sent beach furniture flying. Six Italians were reportedly treated at a local hospital for minor injuries. The helicopters continued on their journey, later arriving at Camp Able Sentry in Macedonia. Crichton said the investigation, headed by an Army lieutenant colonel and an Italian counterpart, took 3Âœ months to complete. And how much of that time was spent examining the beach? After internal reviews, SETAF forwarded the report along in February. âOur goal was to determine a clear understanding of the facts and a shared common picture of what happened,â Crichton said. âThat took time to determine.â Took me about 30 seconds. As part of the investigation, a re-creation of the incident was staged at one of the Armyâs training areas in Germany. Oh, Iâd wager that they didnât include the primary cause of these chopper pilots flying low over that Italian beach in their little re-creation. Whatâs your guess? |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #5 Don't blame the flyboys--Italian women are HOT and known to go topless |
| Posted by: NotMikeMoore 2003-10-27 10:29:42 PM |
| #4 I bit Chuck. :-) |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-10-27 4:46:21 PM |
| #3 Boobies? |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2003-10-27 3:01:34 PM |
| #2 Flying in ground effect saves fuel. Local fauna is a bonus. Heh heh. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-10-27 2:53:13 PM |
| #1 Why so low? Nude beach? |
| Posted by: BH 2003-10-27 2:42:40 PM |