this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2024
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Crazy Fucking Videos

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 1 month ago (3 children)

It's a matter of time before it happens to all of them. Helicopters require a ton of periodic maintenance, adjustments and upkeep. The Taliban don't have the culture, knowledge or access to parts to keep those air worthy.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 weeks ago (4 children)

Parts inside of the transmission alone, which have manufacturing tolerances in the thousandths and up, are only good for a couple thousand hours of run time at most.

Some parts for these machines are made, at least in the US, on machines that could be one of less than 3 in existence. They're that specialized of parts, costing upwards of $750k+ per part. I'm sure they'll be able to source knock offs from other countries (China I'm sure has the means and probably blueprints), but they won't be within the tolerances, and idk how long the Taliban can shell out almost a million dollars per part for each helicopter.

Source: have family in the industry of machining helicopter parts for the government.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

china russia and others are able to manufacture and maintain military helicopters.

just dont see why they would ever do business with the taliban?

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Flying one also requires a ton of training, which this "pilot" obviously didn't have.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

The taliban took over a lot of American equipment when the pull out happened.

When the Military abandons equipment, they often sabotage it in some way so that it’s not useful to the enemy force.

Likely this helicopter had its tail rotor fucked with. It would have started and taken off okay in calm weather, but the moment the pilot attempted any kind of rotation, or got hit by a strong gust of wind, he was doomed.

This may have been the best pilot in the world, but once you’re in an out of control helicopter, there’s very little even the best pilot can do. It’s like if the stabilizer fell off a plane, there’s just not much you can do.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

If the tail rotor was fucked with they wouldn't have gotten that far off the ground. They would have started to spin as soon as their weight started to come off the ground, you have to be actively on the pedals at all times, not just when turning.

This was pilot error all the way.

[–] 418_im_a_teapot 5 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Just a little more training and he could have found the ejection seat in time.

[–] TopRamenBinLaden 3 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (3 children)

I know this is a joke, but helicopters don't have ejection seats. If they did, they would just eject the pilot into the rotors and turn them into confetti.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago

True, they were probably better off selling these to China or Iran. Liquid assets and some degree of goodwill from regional powers will go a lot farther than whatever this was.

[–] Rampsquatch 51 points 1 month ago

Not only was the piloting bad, so was the camera work. Holy fuck, keep the thing in the centre of the shot.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"I'll bet I could fly that thing! How hard could it be?"

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Narrator: it was very hard

[–] andrew_bidlaw 29 points 1 month ago

Trying to fly is somehow not a blaphemy but pictures of people are.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Allah wasn't very Akbar that day...

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (5 children)

I know nothing about helicopters, but can't you autorotate down and increase your chances of not dying in a situation like this? I thought that's what they were doing before they pitched forward and immediately died.

OK helicopter nerds, destroy me.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 weeks ago

This idiot fucked up a perfectly operational helicopter in clear conditions at a safe altitude. There is exactly zero chance he could have safely managed an autorotation landing. And he wouldn't need to anyway, autorotation helps if the engine fails, but it was clearly still under power.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I also know nothing about helicopters but I bet the answer is "yes... If you know how" with a follow up of "and they did not"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Yup, to be fair it is entirely possible the damaged part made maintaining the proper descent impossible.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

To be fair it actually was Auto rotating down until the nose pitch down and it lost all the lift that it was generating and it wasn't until then that it then pitched straight down and slammed right into the ground face first

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yeah that's why I thought that was what they were doing, and then, instead, they abruptly decided to die.

I'm beginning to suspect they didn't know that they were doing.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 weeks ago

Cut him some slack, it was his first (and last) flight.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (7 children)

The US sabotaged any equipment left behind. My guess is that they fixed that Black Hawk using parts off of multiple and some controls failed during their test.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 weeks ago

Haha, they died terrified.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Maybe God is punishing them for being terrible.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Some kind of "careful, Icarus" thing?

Right. Wrong God. But still. Yes, the wrong wrong God, I get that. But still...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago

Uh … that’s the wrong god?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago

2 Down 2 Furious

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Not really into war films but BHD is great as it’s more realistic in showing the USA getting spanked at the start and not just winning the whole time.

I’m not sure when they’ve won a war in recent times, if anyone can actually win at war.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

The US "won" the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rather quickly and handily, but they lost the subsequent peace. Turns out that's the hard part.

Has anyone here read any persuasive articles or books explaining why Japan and Germany accepted and flourished under US occupation but Iraq and Afghanistan did not?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I’m not sure I agree with Afghanistan, they spend 20 years and billions of dollars and the second they left everything was undone and in fact worse than before.

Iraq was an illegal invasion based on lies, but I guess they did overwhelm the Iraqi government and army.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (4 children)

How did the Taliban get their hands on helicopters? I thought the US limited what armaments they gave the Afghan military to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands

[–] phdepressed 12 points 1 month ago (4 children)

There was a lot of leftover equipment due to the unexpected speed of the takeover. At the time there were discussions about destroying any remaining equipment but I believe they ended up figuring that things will naturally degrade and it isn't like they have anyone trained in using/repairing American equipment. No classified info unlike Trump's bathroom.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 weeks ago

A lot of maintenance is required for the equipment left behind. Sure, it looks good on their recruitment posters temporarily, but then 4 years later you get videos like this. Silly Taliban probably should have left some of those women studying engineering alone.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I think they didnt manage to evacuate all the materials from bases when they pulled out

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago

We gave the ANA helicopters.

[–] Outtatime 5 points 1 month ago

Free Blackhawks for the Taliban.

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