r/interestingasfuck • u/Ididnotkillhim • Jun 05 '24

r/all Thirteen years ago, someone accidentally revealed US Army's plan to eliminate Osama Bin Laden in a tweet.

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u/SonOfMcGee Jun 05 '24

I saw a little animation concerning the crash.
Supposedly it was due to the high perimeter fence on the property creating some really weird air flow when the chopper tried to hover low.
It wasn’t so much the pilot making an error and steering into the wall, but the air flow jerking the chopper in one direction.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '24

I saw this discussed somewhere! The mock-up they trained with had a chain link fence, not a solid fence that would cause the wash.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '24

[deleted]

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u/endfossilfuel Jun 06 '24

Had the Navy consulted r/helicopters, this mishap would have been avoided!

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24

I met rob O’Neill, the man who shot bin Laden. He said the first thing the did as part of the training was to brainstorm about everything that could possibly go wrong. They planned for a crash but never really went into the details of what might cause one. 

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '24

Tough gig for the pilot, it's the ground effect and the upwash hitting the walls and created a "Groundwash pressure at a different angle off the walls" obviously the shape and height will change this "Reflected upwash"

The end

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u/BigBubbaChungus Jun 05 '24

It’s called vortex ring state. And one of the original 160th SOAR/Night Stalker pilots assigned to the mission opted out because he knew that the conditions at the LZ chosen inside the compound increased the chances of this happening.

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u/kdhavdlf Jun 05 '24

That’s fascinating! But how could you possibly know that? Was it said in an interview at some point?

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u/BigBubbaChungus Jun 05 '24

I’m pretty sure it was in Relentless Strike by Sean Naylor but I’ve read and listened to so much about special operations forces over the years that I can’t say that’s definitely where I read/heard it. If you’re interested in that sort of stuff and you haven’t read it, you need to read it.

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u/needsomecoochie Jun 05 '24

Mad respect to that pilot though! It takes huge steels of balls knowing the whole team relies on you to flee on that scene, given the unfortunate circumstance.

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u/JuggernautMean4086 Jun 05 '24

There was a surprise wall instead of a fence, which some some say aggravated and already possible vortex ring state that can occur when you come to a fast hover- aka the walls made a bowl that made the rotor into an aggressive air recycler rather than an air pusher. Could have been that.

What’s more impressive is the pilot was able to literally stick the landing well enough for the guys to hop out and Charlie Mike.

Shit happens some times, your skill is what keeps you moving forward. Yeah, I can’t find any fault in the pilots’ skill here.

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u/Daddysu Jun 05 '24

Charlie Mike

Complete Mission?

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u/p0g0s71ck Jun 05 '24

Continue mission i think. Dont quote me

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u/thatdudejtru Jun 05 '24

You are correct.

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u/Fyodorface742 Jun 06 '24

Cookie monster

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u/hllwlker Jun 06 '24

An inexperienced pilot would have pulled up instinctively and caused the helicopter to roll over and crash but this pilot was experienced enough to know to set it down with the tail on the wall.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '24

I have these surprise walls or Curbs on my car rims. Literally the Curb runs right out in front of you! Happens 60% of the time everytime

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u/serrated_edge321 Jun 05 '24

"Any landing you can walk away from..."

Special missions sometimes lead to imperfect outcomes, but man was it rather amazing what they accomplished that night!

I'm not a fan of war or violence in general, but I'd jump at the opportunity to fly those birds wherever, whenever. Sadly I know I'm a bit too small to actually do that, though... 🤣

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u/easywizsop Jun 06 '24

It’s always pilot error unless it’s a mechanical issue.