
Skiers at the Snowbird ski resort in Utah captured various angles of the Utah National Guard flight of two Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters as the training sortie went wrong about 150 yards from the resort’s boundary in the Mineral Basin area. Fortunately, there were no injuries reported. Preliminary statements suggest the choppers lost visual contact with the ground during landing.
“As they landed, the snow kicked up and the aircraft probably lost sight of the ground,” said Utah National Guard aviation spokesman and senior instructor pilot, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jared Jones. He added, “We know there were portions of the rotor blade that separated from the helicopter and struck the second helicopter.” In a tweet, the Utah National Guard stressed an investigation is ongoing.
Here is a video of the Blackhawks crashing while we were riding down Mineral Basin around 9:30 am. Military buddy I was riding with recognized the Hawks coming in to land. So far sounds like everyone was ok from what we’ve heard. Thankfully! Video cred: Tom Carney #snowbird pic.twitter.com/JKTAqndqdE
— Cory Inman (@IM_Inman) February 22, 2022