Kurdish Forces Shoot Down Helicopter

[BigNoLove]

Kurdish forces shoot down a Turkish helicopter with an Igla 9k38 manpad.

[chechnya]

30 seconds of perfection

[kellyhound]

On 13 May 2016, PKK militants shot down a Turkish Army Bell AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopter using 9K38 Igla (SA-18 Grouse) version of this missile system.

The missile severed the tail section from the rest of the helicopter, causing it to fragment in midair and crash, killing the two pilots on board.

The Turkish government first claimed that it fell due to technical failure before it became clear that it was shot down.

The PKK later released video footage of the rocket being fired and striking the helicopter.

[Stick892]

Man, that thing really came apart!

[KillingJoke]

Nice Shot! Bravo!

Demonstrates the importance of pilot training. Sure those guys could fly, but clearly had no clue about flying in a warzone and missile evasion tactics—just a literal sitting duck waiting to bite the big one.

Not only that, but loss of tail rotor does not have to lead to a complete disintegration if the pilot reacts quickly and autorotates.

A poorly trained pilot is a dead pilot.

[obliterate800]

“ The Turkish government first claimed that it fell due to technical failure before it became clear that it was shot down”

The first casualty of war etc.

The bloke talking is counting while the other one is aiming with the rocket launcher. Are they coordinating the moment to launch?

[viperStrike]

MANPADS are super scary.

[weee96]

Originally Posted by viperStrike

MANPADS are super scary.

The scariest part about them is unless pilots visually see the missile coming, there is no early warning system to tell them so they dont even know its coming. At least with radar guided missiles you get some advanced warning. With manpads, if you see it in time you can flare and have a decent chance, otherwise you are dead and dont even know.

[Rikbikboo]

Originally Posted by weee96

The scariest part about them is unless pilots visually see the missile coming, there is no early warning system to tell them so they dont even know its coming. At least with radar guided missiles you get some advanced warning. With manpads, if you see it in time you can flare and have a decent chance, otherwise you are dead and dont even know.

Yea but even if you got a warning you'd barely have time to say "I fucked up" anyway. you aint gonna do much in the 5 seconds it takes to hit apart from wish you stayed in bed that day.