ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 77655
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| Date: | Thursday 14 April 1994 |
| Time: | 10:30 |
| Type: |  Sikorsky UH-60A Black Hawk |
| Owner/operator: | US Army |
| Registration: | 87-26000 |
| MSN: | 701200 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1988 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 13 / Occupants: 13 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Arbil -
 Iraq
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Zakhu |
| Arbil | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
At 08:22, two U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the 6th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment (based in Giebelstadt, Germany), called Eagle Flight, departed Diyarbakır, near Pirinçlik, Turkey headed for the OPC military coordination center (MCC) located 150 miles (240 km) away in Zakhu, Iraq.
At 09:21, the Black Hawks reported their entry into the no-fly zone by radio on the en route frequency to the AWACS en route controller and then landed six minutes later at the MCC.
At the MCC, the Black Hawks picked up 16 members of the UN Provide Comfort coalition leadership team.
At 09:54, the helicopters departed the MCC for Arbil, Iraq, a distance of 120 miles (190 km). The Black Hawks reported their departure, flight route, and destinations by radio which was acknowledged by AWACS en route controller.
At 10:20 Wickson, the lead of an F-15C flight, reported entering northern Iraq to the AWACS controller responsible for air traffic inside the TAOR, on a frequency different than the en-route frequency being used by the two Black Hawks.
At 10:22, the F-015 lead, flying at 27,000 feet reported a radar contact on a low-flying, slow-moving aircraft 40 miles (64 km) southeast of his current position.
Despite IFF interrogation and visual identification, the F-15 pilots misidentified the two United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters as Iraqi Mil Mi-24 "Hind" helicopters. The F-15 pilots fired on and destroyed both helicopters, killing all 26 military service members and civilians.
A subsequent USAF investigation blamed the accident on several factors. The F-15 pilots were faulted for misidentifying the helicopters as hostile. Also, the crew members of the AWACS aircraft were blamed for their inaction in failing to exercise appropriate control and for not intervening in the situation. In addition, the identification friend or foe (IFF) systems had not functioned to identify the helicopters to the F-15 pilots. Furthermore, USAF leaders had failed to adequately integrate U.S. Army helicopter operations into overall OPC air operations.
Sources:
Scramble
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Black_Hawk_shootdown_incident
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 07-Sep-2010 14:30 | ASN Archive | |
| 23-Jan-2011 07:11 | harro | Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 07-Jan-2015 11:54 | el_serj | Updated [Cn, Narrative] |
| 12-Jan-2018 20:14 | harro | Updated [Source] |
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