A hard landing in Afghanistan took out an Army CH-47 Chinook, a U.S. official said Friday.
“One of our helicopters had a hard landing,” Army Lt. Ubon Mendie, a U.S. Forces Afghansitan spokesman, said in an email. “There was no hostile fire or enemy contact involved. Both Afghan and U.S. personnel were injured but are all stable and expected to recover. The aircraft was destroyed during the incident.”
The acknowledgment confirms several media reports on Thursday by Military.com and the Aviation Geek Club, which first reported the event.
The crash took place during the night between May 24 and 25 in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The crash appears to have taken place without an official public statement or press release at the time of the incident.
Mendie said the incident is under investigation. He did not immediately respond to questions about whether the Chinook had been destroyed on-site after the crash or whether it was recovered and brought back to base.
The incident occurred “on the way to drop passengers off," the Aviation Geek Club reported.
Kyle Rempfer was an editor and reporter who has covered combat operations, criminal cases, foreign military assistance and training accidents. Before entering journalism, Kyle served in U.S. Air Force Special Tactics and deployed in 2014 to Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and Baghdad, Iraq.
