Posted on Apr 25, 2016
In US Army Exercise, Humvees Rained From Sky
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The US Army is investigating what went wrong during an April 11 training exercise, during which three Humvees fell from airplanes and smashed to the ground. No one was hurt in the April 11 incident, which happened at the Hohenfels training area in Germany, Army spokesman Maj. Juan Martinez tells the Army Times. The exercise involved dropping some 150 bundles, vehicles, and weapons systems from aircraft. All was going well … until the Humvees, one after another, slipped from their rigging and plummeted hundreds of feet to the ground. The mishap was captured on video (warning: language), on which observers can be heard laughing. One person says, "It's on fire. Do we need to call that up?"
"We cannot speculate on what went wrong until the investigation is complete," Martinez says. According to NBC News, each Humvee costs up to $220,000. Martinez says the investigation "will receive the highest priority," which, per the Times, is an indication of the "severity of the issue." NBC notes that it's unclear whether the accident was a result of bad equipment or human error. Martinez says the Army is working to figure out who shot the video, which has since gone viral. "As far as disciplinary actions are concerned," he says, "nothing has been decided."
"We cannot speculate on what went wrong until the investigation is complete," Martinez says. According to NBC News, each Humvee costs up to $220,000. Martinez says the investigation "will receive the highest priority," which, per the Times, is an indication of the "severity of the issue." NBC notes that it's unclear whether the accident was a result of bad equipment or human error. Martinez says the Army is working to figure out who shot the video, which has since gone viral. "As far as disciplinary actions are concerned," he says, "nothing has been decided."
In US Army Exercise, Humvees Rained From Sky
Posted from newser.com
Investigation
Hohenfels
Training
Equipment
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 18
For those that have been there and done that.... They will know, the others, well just guessing.
Rigging is done by the unit, and overseen by a rigger who will be hands on for the truly technical items, , then completed load checked by another rigger...but the hard work the cutting of materials, placing, moving and affixing dozens of straps, tie downs, honeycomb, plywood, 100mph tape, ect is handled by the unit in many cases.. riggers do complet loads as well of course., but unit vehicles seem to always have a unit detail assigned for the bulk of the work. To have three loads fail is really strange, more so that it was three of the same type loads.. Perhaps a bad lot of tiedowns, perhaps incorrect rigging procedures,, but that would mean multiple riggers missed it, the ones that helped rig and the one that checked the load,,,and the AC loadmaster, who while not a rigger has seen a rigged HMMWV a time or two and would likely notice something really odd with the load... the loadmaster may only be responsible for the load being located and secured properly to the AC... but they know if the load is not on the 463L correctly, locking that palet down to the AC means nothing.
Rigging is done by the unit, and overseen by a rigger who will be hands on for the truly technical items, , then completed load checked by another rigger...but the hard work the cutting of materials, placing, moving and affixing dozens of straps, tie downs, honeycomb, plywood, 100mph tape, ect is handled by the unit in many cases.. riggers do complet loads as well of course., but unit vehicles seem to always have a unit detail assigned for the bulk of the work. To have three loads fail is really strange, more so that it was three of the same type loads.. Perhaps a bad lot of tiedowns, perhaps incorrect rigging procedures,, but that would mean multiple riggers missed it, the ones that helped rig and the one that checked the load,,,and the AC loadmaster, who while not a rigger has seen a rigged HMMWV a time or two and would likely notice something really odd with the load... the loadmaster may only be responsible for the load being located and secured properly to the AC... but they know if the load is not on the 463L correctly, locking that palet down to the AC means nothing.
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MSG (Join to see)
SGM, there absolutely had to be an issue with the rigging when three like items all have the same type of malfunction. I think the bigger concern here is the fact that the DZSO
did not stop the drop as soon and the first vehicle burned in.
did not stop the drop as soon and the first vehicle burned in.
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LTC Terrence Farrier, PhD
Ouuch! I truly hate to say multiple oversights is suspected here. I have attended, was taught, and seen loads secured for air, boat, and train as a logistical officer. SGM Marquez is correct that multiple checks are required for such loads. The MOST significant factor here is that no one was physically damaged. That may not happen should there be a recurrence.
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Thanks for posting COL Mikel J. Burroughs last week one of my infantry contacts on Facebook sent me a video of the Humvees falling and exploding on impact with very colorful language from the observers. That reminded me of what we used to say "everything that can be lifted is air-droppable at least once."
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I watched this with a few colleagues of mine here at the academy and I couldn't figure out with the guy taking the video was laughing.... I figured it either wasn't his equipment (or wasn't responsible for loading it), or he is a younger Soldier. I couldn't imagine, as a senior NCO, laughing like that if I was involved in it.
I truly hope it was some kind of equipment fault and not human error.
I truly hope it was some kind of equipment fault and not human error.
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