
Six U.S. Army helicopters have made an impromptu landing in Poland
On Sept. 10, six U.S. Army choppers landed in the middle of a rapeseed field near Gruta, Poland. Since the pilots did not know their location they received information leafleats on the municipality, in English.
The group consisted of Chinook and Black Hawk utility helicopters.
The unusual event gathered around 100 spectators. According to the information provided by TVN24 the chopper pilots lost their orientation due to the foggy weather conditions.
According to the official statement of the US Embassy the choppers, belonging to the U.S. Army 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, stationed in Germany, got a much appreciated warm welcome: aircrews were greeted by the locals with cakes and coffee.
The helicopters departed again to their destination about 2 hours later.
Jacek Siminski for TheAviationist
Image credit: gruta.pl
In 2014 a squadron of helicopters get lost for foggy conditions. Ok…
In 2014 an airplane got lost and no one could find it. This one’s OK too …
The report seams a bit exaggerated.
I suppose they were not really lost. The probably waited for the fog to clear on the destination VFR landing zone.
There are so many factors behind this that it may seem silly but it is totally plausible. If a flight has filed a VFR flight plan, it is a fiasco to declare inadvertent and go IFR. I am assuming there was no IFR option so the only plausible solution was to land and wait for the weather to clear. This was not about capability, it was about following aviation regulations and keeping the crews safe.
Yup. And in 2014 the Russians get lost at the Ukrainian border. The aircrew were not lost at all my friend. Just playing it safe.
I’m jealous, they got Polish coffee and Polish cake! Anybody know if that’s different than American cake and coffee? Besides location! ;)
Gruta Poland? 300km inside Poland and have way to Lithuania? Yah, they got lost….right
That’s freaking embarrassing, but at least they didn’t crash.
MAYBE CHILDREN OF POLAND FELT SAFE FOR 2 HRS