Friday, February 03, 2006

One more down. Only 27 to go.


Oops:

Five crew were plucked from the ocean off Denmark on Thursday after a Sea King helicopter crashed while practising night landings on a Canadian destroyer.

Mind you, it's all a matter of semantics:

Col. Al Blair, commander of the Sea King squadron at Shearwater air base near Halifax, said at a news conference later that military investigators were preparing to go to crash site.

He was asked if the incident was being regarded as a crash or a controlled ditching.

"Ditching can be either," Col. Blair replied. "There's controlled ditching and uncontrolled — and at this point we don't know which it was.

So it's not a "crash," it's an "uncontrolled ditching." From those fine folks who brought you "collateral damage." And "friendly fire."

4 comments:

Dave said...

Hmmm... uncontrolled ditching. I'll bet you if you ask any Athabaskan on return to Halifax they'll tell you the announcement was Aircraft CRASH! Starboard side!

That would be, of course, after the ship went to Emergency Stations.

:)

Mike said...

The bitter irony of all of this, from what I have read is that htis crash was probably pilot error not mechanical failure. It just happened to be a Sea King.

Dave said...

Well, that's a distinct possibility. However, there is also the possibility it was an engine surge and that would cause the pilot to overfly the beartrap.

For what it's worth, the Sea King has a very sophisticated hover gyro and staying precisely over one spot is something the Sea Things do quite well. If the pilot was feeling uneasy about his approach it is a straight out pull and retreat to the approach delta. Overflying the deck is really very rare.

Scotian said...

Don't forget that old classic from the Vietnam days, inoperative combat units to describe fatalities. That particular piece of military doublespeak used to just slay me whenever I heard it. It never ceases to amaze me the various convoluted ways the military mind can come up with to describe things in its own unique way.