Showing posts with label Accidents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Accidents. Show all posts

Monday, April 09, 2018

The military's run of fatal accidents: Coincidence, or crisis?


by Jamie McIntyre
| April 08, 2018 12:01 AM




O March 14, a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet jet crashed in the waters outside Key West, Fla. There have been four more military aviation incidents this year alone.
(Rob O'Neal/The Key West Citizen via AP)


It’s been a bad few weeks for U.S. military aviation.

Since a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet crashed off the Florida coast March 14, killing both pilots, there have been four more aviation accidents that have claimed a dozen more lives. And that’s just this year.

In the last three months of 2017, four major accidents killed 12 more service members. That’s 26 deaths in six months.

Barone's Guide to Government: Freedom of Religion

That can’t be normal. Or can it?

Pentagon officials have to tread warily when discussing unusual clusters of deadly accidents that may be a statistical anomaly, but are nevertheless tragic and may have been avoidable.

So even if the safety data indicates that the number and rate of military accidents are on a par with years past, no military official can be seen as callously dismissing deaths as simply a normal cost of doing business.

Wednesday, January 03, 2018

North Korea accidentally hit one of its own cities with a missile, report says



3:50 p.m. ET

STR/AFP/Getty Images


In its relentless pursuit of nuclear strength, North Korea's first land target may have actually been itself. The Diplomat reported Wednesday that an intermediate range ballistic missile launched by the regime last spring accidentally hit the city of Tokchon, which has a population of more than 200,000.

The missile was launched from an airfield just over 40 miles north of North Korea's capital city of Pyongyang. An unnamed U.S. official explained to The Diplomat that due to an engine malfunction, the projectile made it only a minute into its test flight and traveled about 25 miles northeast before hitting the ground.

The Diplomat cross-referenced the failed missile's approximate landing site with Google Earth and other satellite imaging to find that the suspected landing area did indeed seem to show signs of "considerable damage to a complex of industrial or agricultural buildings." Several structures appeared damaged in satellite images, reportedly by debris from the failed launch.

While there have been no confirmed reports of deaths in Tokchon as a result of the failed missile test, the images published by The Diplomat seem to show that the missile came perilously close to exploding in more densely inhabited areas, marking the risk of test launches. North Korea has launched two ballistic missiles since August, both of which flew over Japan and landed cleanly in the Pacific Ocean — but one concerning possibility put forward by The Diplomat is that a future missile could explode prematurely over Japan, which would "spark a serious crisis in Northeast Asia."

NBC News reported Tuesday that U.S. officials believe North Korea may be preparing for another missile test "in the next week or two." Read more about the failed missile at The Diplomat. Kelly O'Meara Morales



Source

Friday, June 03, 2016

Blue Angels, Fort Hood, Thunderbirds mishaps: 'A tough day for military'



By Tara Copp
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 3, 2016




Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, in Singapore for a security conference, began a news conference Friday, June 3, 2016, with a statement on the Fort Hood deaths and a Navy Blue Angels training accident Thursday that killed Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss, pictured above.
ANDREA PEREZ/U.S. NAVY


China’s military buildup in the South China Sea dominated the first day of a key Asian security summit Friday, with U.S. partners trying to strike a balance between challenging the Chinese and working with them in what some see as a new reality in the region.



Obama meets Air Force pilot who ejected before Thunderbirds jet crash

The pilot of a U.S. Air Force Thunderbird that crashed following a flyover met with President Barack Obama shortly after ejecting safely into a Colorado field. News of the crash broke while Obama's motorcade was returning to Peterson Air Force Base on Thursday for his flight back to Washington. The pilot ejected about 15 miles south of the academy.



5 dead, 4 missing after Army truck swept away in Texas flood

Aerial and ground crews searched the 20-mile creek that winds through heavily wooded terrain on the northern fringe of the sprawling Army base. Army aircraft, canine search teams, swift-water rescue watercraft and heavy trucks were being used.



Fort Hood officials were closing roads as truck overturned

Fort Hood commanders were in the process of closing roads on the sprawling Army post in Central Texas when a truck carrying 12 soldiers overturned in a fast-flowing flooded creek during a training exercise, killing five and leaving four missing, officials said Friday.



2 military planes go down in separate incidents

Two military planes went down on Thursday in coincidental unrelated incidents in Colorado and in Tennessee, and the pilot in one incident died, the U.S. Navy confirmed.

SINGAPORE — Investigations into two fatal military training accidents on the same day will focus on how to prevent recurrences, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Friday.

Five soldiers from Fort Hood died, three were rescued and four remained missing after floodwaters swept away their troop carrier during a training mission Thursday.

All of the soldiers were from the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at the Killeen, Texas, Army base. The soldiers came from a unit that had recently redeployed from South Korea.

The three rescued soldiers were in stable condition and being transported from Coryell Memorial Healthcare System, where they were initially treated, to Fort Hood’s Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.

The soldiers were driving through a low-water crossing on base during a training mission when a flash flood overturned their Light Medium Tactical Vehicle, according to The Associated Press and information released by Fort Hood. Texas has been pounded by record rains.

Carter, in Singapore for a security conference, began a news conference Friday with a statement on the Fort Hood deaths and a Navy Blue Angels training accident Thursday that killed Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss.

“Thursday was a tough day for the U.S. military,” Carter said. “Our hearts and thoughts are with the families.

“The fact that both of these losses are safety issues in training — we’re going to ensure we learn lessons that we can from the investigations … and we take actions in the future to prevent such accidents and keep our people safe,” Carter said.

In another incident Thursday, an Air Force Thunderbird crashed in Colorado. That pilot ejected safely.

At Fort Hood, aircraft, search-and-rescue dogs, and watercraft continued to search for the missing soldiers, 1st Cavalry Division commander Maj. Gen. John C. Thomson III said in a statement.

“Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated during this difficult time,” Thomson said.

copp.tara@Stripes.com
Twitter: @TaraCopp



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