Halo 42
66th RQS
HH-60G #87-26014
A flight of two HH-60G's which were on alert and "Hover cocked" took off from Kandahar on a medical evacuation flight, to an Afghan local who was part of the Joint Election monitoring board, who was supporting a local election.
The crew were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom & took off wearing NVG's for the mission. After a normal take off, flight & in flight refuelling the HH-60's came into land 105 miles east of Sindand, Herat Province to pick up the official. The LZ was a difficult area to land & the aircraft made 8-10 practice landings, which took 20-30 minutes, a lot longer than normal, highlighting the difficulties encountered by the crew. The HC-130 that supported the aerial refuelling popped flares for the crew to to light the area to help the crew landing.
At 200ft, the Pavehawk encountered a total brownout, which at that altitude was unusual as this normally occurs at 75-100ft. The pilot sensibly called a go around and just seconds after coming out from the cloud of dust hit the rolling hillside at between 20-40 knots, with the HH-60 rolling down the hillside. The crew that took off were a "hard crew" meaning that they fly together for the duration of their deployment, this crew being from the 66th RQS & the PJ's from another shift with the 48th RQS.
Airman First Class Jesse M. Samek who was assigned to the 66th RQS & was the Flight Engineer was killed during the accident.
FE- A1C. Jesse M. Samek
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