[Eternally Solo]

Two National Guardsmen dead

UPDATED FEBRUARY 17 -- According to the Madison County Coroner, The bodies of the Tennessee National Guardsmen killed in Wednesday's crash are began to be transported Friday afternoon with a law enforcement escort from Madison County. The remains will travel to a mortuary service in Enterprise, Alabama, where they will later be transferred by air from Pensacola, Florida to Dover, Delaware. Autopsies will be performed by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner in Dover.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 15 -- The National Guard Bureau confirmed to CBS News that the helicopter involved belonged to the Tennessee National Guard, and was on a routine training mission.

A horrifying accident just went down in northern Alabama -- with a combat helicopter falling out of the sky and landing near a freeway ... and the whole thing's on video.

The tragedy occurred Wednesday afternoon in Huntsville, where eyewitnesses say that the military-grade chopper started to descend toward the ground out of nowhere ... only to slam and burst into flames along the median of Highway 53.

Fortunately, it doesn't appear any civilians were harmed in the crash -- but the Madison County Sheriff's Office says sadly, everyone onboard perished ... it's unclear how many exactly. Here's another thing, officials are now confirming this was, in fact, a Black Hawk -- which are normally designated for war zones. Some reports suggest it was a UH-60 model.

The moment the helicopter started to descend was partially caught on a Nest home security camera -- which actually caught the moment it collided as well ... which you can hear in scary detail. This was filmed from quite a distance, but it's incredibly jarring to watch.

Aftermath footage taken from a closer POV is just as distressing ... massive plumes of black smoke erupted from the scene -- and first responders were rushing to attend to the fire.

So far, there's no explanation for why a Black Hawk was in the area or how/why it crashed. An investigation is underway, and cleanup efforts have blocked off all surrounding traffic.

TMZ got the scoop again

[ride]

Originally Posted by Eternally Solo ↗

So far, there's no explanation for why a Black Hawk was in the area or how/why it crashed.

I can pretty much make out the how.

[kellyhound]

black hawk down

[Eternally Solo]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

black hawk down

I remember when that happened.

Guardsmen have been named. They were assigned to A Company, 1-230th Assault Helicopter Battalion, from Nashville’s Berry Field Air National Guard Base.

Geez, only 47 days into the new year. Feel horrible for the family.

I wonder if it was mechanical or a bird strike.

[spycosis]

My engineering experience says that for it to descend at such a rate of speed the whirly thing on the top must have been broken.

[Azimuth]

that home security cam is horrifying.

[Azimuth]

Originally Posted by spycosis ↗

My engineering experience says that for it to descend at such a rate of speed the whirly thing on the top must have been broken.

If you watch the top video, you can hear the wop-wop-wop sound of a whirly thing. I think.

[spycosis]

Originally Posted by Azimuth ↗

If you watch the top video, you can hear the wop-wop-wop sound of a whirly thing. I think.

oh dear. it should have been making a batabatabatabata sound, perhaps one of them little spikey wheel things under the whirly thing was broken then, like maybe a spikey bit had broken off..?

[condor5]

Originally Posted by Azimuth ↗

that home security cam is horrifying.

I know, I could barely see it.

[spycosis]

I was going to post a Black Hawk Downs meme but I think that maybe distasteful.

I'll leave that to our resident shithead.