National Security

Unauthorized Dip Grounds Navy Pilots

By Mark Thompson | @MarkThompson_DC | September 24, 2010 | +

The fun of being a military pilot has waned in recent years, given that everybody seems to have a video camera ready to document any hot-dogging. Perhaps the most infamous example dates from 1994, when a B-52 flown by a notoriously bad pilot crashed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, killing all four on board (here’s the back story of that crash — it wasn’t really an accident).

A Navy MH-60 helicopter/DoD photo

The latest case comes from Lake Tahoe, where a pair of $33 million Navy MH-60 helicopters was captured performing some apparently unauthorized flying by an amazed tourist last week and — of course — quickly posted on YouTube.

Each chopper sustained as much as $500,000 in damage, the San Diego Union Tribune reports. The Navy has grounded the pilots involved and launched an investigation. Lake Tahoe — a popular tourist destination — is not a normal training area for Navy aircraft.

Related Topics: aircraft crash, navy, National Security

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  • destor23

    Stop with the cameras, people. It’s going to be really sad when everybody is going to have to conform to every freaking rule and social norm because they’re surrounded by hundreds of “little brothers” taping them all the time. People need to be free to act out and do cool things but we live in a country full of busybodies and tattletales.

  • 11charlie

    Really puts our whacky little shenanigans in the Manchus to shame. Like the time a guy from our AT platoon took one of the TOW Humvees for a night time joy ride in Ord’s backyard and flipped it.
    .
    Then there was the 7th ID urban legend about a live fire at Camp Roberts where a FIST team called in artillery on a herd of cattle that wandered into the impact area. One of those stories that everyone heard about, but no one actully knew the persons involved.

  • narcogun

    You can’t be serious destor. You would excuse upwards of $1,000,000 in damages to military property – plus completely unnecessary risk to human life – in the name of horseplay? Sure there is a lot of privacy invasions in the name of busybodydom nowadays. But the above story is not an example of this. My apologies if your comment was supposed to be satirical or sarcastic and it flew over my head. But at face value your statements are astonishing.

  • grape_crush

    Someone I knew that was stationed in one of those northern Air Force bases used to tell stories of how – when they were bored (often) and no one who cared was watching – raced bomb carts inside the hangar…with the (he said nuclear) bombs still in the carts…

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