Black Hawk Down Why do helicopters seem to crash all the time?
No American soldiers were killed in Sunday's raid on Osama Bin
Laden's Abbottabad compound, but a helicopter sustained damage
after a hard landing and the SEALs blew it up to keep the
technology secret. This high-profile chopper failure is hardly
unique. During the Iran hostage crisis, troops abandoned a
rescue mission because three of the eight Sea Stallion transport
copters proved defective. Why do so many helicopters seem to
fail? Because chopper aviation is highly complex. Setting aside
the dangers of flying through a war zone, operating a helicopter
means navigating in multiple directions—straight up and down, as
well as backward, forward, and to the sides. Helicopters fly at
lower altitudes than airplanes, which means that pilots must
often maneuver in tight spaces and have to contend with
obstructions such as phone lines, trees, and buildings.
Generally, they also need to improvise landings, whereas fixed-
wing crafts often travel by predete