List of Coalition aircraft losses in Afghanistan

The following is a list of Coalition aircraft losses in Afghanistan. It covers both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

2008

*July 2: A US UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was shot down by RPG and small arms fire south of the Afghan capital in Logar province. The pilots were able to land the aircraft and evacuate everyone on board before it caught fire, another helicopter returned later and destroyed the wreckage with precision fire. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7484673.stm BBC NEWS | South Asia | US helicopter downed near Kabul ] ]

*June 25: A US-led coalition forces helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan, causing "minor injuries" to two soldiers on board.

*June 5: A US OH-58 Kiowa crashed at Kandahar Army Airfield, Afghanistan during a test flight killing the 2 pilots aboard. They were assigned to the 96th Aviation Support Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. [http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080608/COUNTY05/806080406]

2007

*December 10: An Afghan army Mi-17 helicopter crashed in heavy fog about 70 kilometres southwest of Kabul, killing four soldiers.
*September 25: A German CH-53E helicopter crash-landed in the border area between RC-North and West during a med-evac. No soldiers were killed during this incident. The helicopter was blown up by Norwegian and Latvian forces after they had spent two days under siege by Taliban forces.
*August 23: A RAF C-130 Hercules made a hard landing at night on an airstrip in Afghanistan. The Hercules, from 47 RAF Lyneham, was badly damaged and could not be recovered. It was blown up by British engineers so that sensitive equipment would not fall into enemy hands. No casualties were reported. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/05/nherc105.xml Army blows up £50m Hercules plane] ] [ [http://www.dasa.mod.uk/natstats/accidents/accdeaths/acctab3.html Aircraft Accidents ] ]
*August 21: An Italian AB-212 helicopter crashes while attempting an emergency landing due to technical problems, 3 Italian soldiers wounded. [ at Wikinews.]
*February 18 : A US MH-47 Chinook from 2-160th SOAR carrying 22 U.S. servicemen crashed in Zabul Province, killing 8 and injuring 14. [ [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17209153/ MSNBC] ]

2006

*September 2: A British Nimrod MR.2 aircraft crashes near Kandahar, killing 14 crewmembers.
*August 31: A Dutch F-16A Block 20 MLU fighter crashes near Ghazni, killing the pilot. [ [http://www.f-16.net/news_article1960.html Dutch F-16 crashed in Afghanistan - Pilot killed ] ]
*July 2: A US AH-64 Apache out of Kandahar air base crashes, killing one pilot CW3 William Timothy Flanigan and injuring the other.
* May 24: A RAF C-130 Hercules (XV206) crashes while landing at a dirt landing strip outside the town of Lashkar Gar. All nine crew and 26 passengers aboard safely evacuated, but the airframe burned out.
*May 5: A US CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, killing all 10 U.S. soldiers on board.
*April 28: A US AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed north of Qalat, Afghanistan. Pilot survived with minor injuries, while co-pilot/gunner 1LT Daniel McConnell suffered a traumatic amputation of right arm.

2005

*October 31: A Dutch CH-47D Chinook helicopter, D-104, made a hard landing after losing power in cruise flight. There were several injuries and the aircraft was destroyed by Dutch troops after salvaging usable parts. [http://www.touchdown-aviation.com/orbats/rnlaf/298sq.htm Touchdown Aviation - Royal Netherlands Air Force - 298 Squadron ] ]

*September 25: Five US soldiers were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in Zabul province while returning from an operation. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4279858.stm BBC NEWS | South Asia |US Chinook crashes in Afghanistan ] ] Though initially reported as an accident, the crash was later confirmed to have been the cause of hostile fire. [ [http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonatwar/2005/10/helicopter_was_shot_down.html Helicopter was shot down] ]

*August 16: Seventeen Spanish soldiers were killed when their Cougar AS532 helicopter crashes near Herat. A second Spanish helicopter made an emergency landing, injuring five soldiers. The crash was reported as an accident, although witnesses said they receive AAA fire from a nearby village.

*July 27: A Dutch CH-47D Chinook helicopter, D-105, crashed in a landing incident in a brownout while inserting troops. No injuries but the aircraft was written-off.

*June 28: A US CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down in Kunar province by Taliban commander Qari Ismail, killing all 16 US Special Forces servicemen on board. The US military says it was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. It was a rescue mission for Operation Red Wing a team of 4 SEAL members, pinned down by Taliban gunmen. [Pak Tribune, " [http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=203161 Taliban claim killing 20 US troops in Kunar. Dozens die as US jets bomb civilians] ", July 14 2008] [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/10/20071022-11.html]

* June 25: A Special Forces RAF Hercules carrying the new British ambassador in Afghanistan caught fire after setting down at a landing strip outside the town of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province. No casualties reported. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/25/wafg25.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/05/25/ixnews.html]

*June 22: U-2 spyplane crashes at Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE on return from a mission in Afghanistan, killing the pilot. [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/06/22/spy.plane.crash/index.html CNN.com - Pilot of U.S. spy plane killed - Jun 22, 2005 ] ]

*April 6: A US CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in a sandstorm near Ghazni, killing all 15 American soldiers and three civilian contractors.

2004

*December 16: A US OH-58 Kiowa crashes north of Shindand, in Afghanistan's Herat province, injuring its two pilots. [ [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2004/n12162004_2004121605.html US DoD] ]
*October 21: UH-60 Black Hawk crashes near Herat, killing the pilot.
*August 29: A Dutch AH-64D Apache, designation Q-20, crashes near Kabul, slightly injuring one crew member. [ [http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=11183 Dutch news - Expatica ] ]
*August 12: UH-60 Black Hawk crashes in Khost province, killing one soldier and injuring fourteen.

2003

*November 23: MH-53 Pave Low helicopter crashed shortly after leaving Bagram Air Base, killing five U.S. soldiers.
*March 23: HH-60 Pave Hawk crashes in Afghanistan, killing six on board.
*January 30: UH-60 Black Hawk crashes 7 miles east of Bagram Air Base, killing four.

2002

*December 21: CH-53G crashed in Kabul, killing seven German soldiers.
*August 13: HH-60 Pave Hawk crashed in Urgun, injuring six onboard. A civilian wounded in an ambush had been taken from the eastern town of Khost to a U.S. medical team in Urgun, and the Air Force helicopter was leaving when the accident occurred. [ [http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/Aug-14-Wed-2002/news/19406964.html LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: NEWS: Six hurt in copter accident in Afghanistan ] ]
*June 12: MC-130H Combat Talon crashed in eastern Afghanistan, killing three of the 10 soldiers aboard.
*March 4: Two CH-47 Chinook helicopters were hit by RPGs and gunfire during Operation Anaconda. Two were killed in the first helicopter, which was dropping off a SEAL team. The second Chinook came in later that day to try and rescue the crew of the first CH-47, and subsequently was shot down, killing four.
*February 13: MC-130P Hercules crashed in eastern Afghanistan. There were no casualties. [ [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20020213-0&lang=en ASN Aircraft accident description Lockheed MC-130P Hercules 66-0213 - eastern Afghanistan ] ]
*January 28: CH-47 Chinook crashed in eastern Afghanistan due to a brownout, injuring 14 soldiers.
*January 20: CH-53E from HMM-361 crashed 40 miles south of Bagram air base killing two Marines on board [ [http://www.popasmoke.com/kia/incidents.php?incident_id=286&conflict_id=35 Usmc/Combat Helicopter Association - Kia Database ] ] .
*January 9: KC-130 tanker crashed into a Pakistani mountain, killing seven Americans on board.

2001

*December 6: UH-1N Huey crashes at Kandahar air base, two marines suffered minor injuries. [ [http://nucnews.net/nucnews/2001nn/0112nn/011207nn.htm NucNews - December 7, 2001 ] ]
*November 20: MH-6J crashed at a base, wounding 4 on board.
*November 2: MH-53 Pave Low crashed on a special operations mission in northern Afghanistan due to bad weather, injuring four on board.
*October 19: UH-60 Black Hawk crashed at Dalbandin air base in Pakistan, killing two U.S. Army rangers. The cause was brownout from dust kicked up by the helicopter rotor. [cite book | last = Bahmanyar | first = Mir | title = Shadow Warriors: a History of the Us Army Rangers | publisher = Osprey Publishing | location = Reading | year = 2006 | isbn = 1846031427 | pages = p. 184]

Contract aircraft, non-military aircraft losses

* December 3 2006 A Mi-26 helicopter under contract with Dyncorp, a US security company, crashes in Afghanistan, killing the Russian crew. [ [http://www2.hq.nato.int/ISAF/update/Press_Releases/newsrelease/2006/pr061210-349.htm NATO website] ]

* July 27 2006: A chartered Mi-8 helicopter with 16 passengers and crew crashes en route from Khost to Kabul, killing all on board including 2 Dutch ISAF soldiers. [ [http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=nation_world&id=4408414 ABC News] ]

* April 24 2006 An An-26 leased by the US State Department and carrying US Drug agents crashes on landing at Bost airport in Lashkar Gah, killing the two Ukrainian pilots and two young girls on the ground. The plane attempted to avoid a truck during landing [ [http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/04/24/afgplane.shtml Mosnews] ]

*November 11 2005 A Georgian registered IL-76 operated by Pakistan's Royal Airlines, on charter to carry food for coalition troops, crashes near Khak-e-Shahidan village, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) northwest of Kabul, killing all 8 crew members (5 Russians, 2 Ukrainians and 1 Pakistani) [ [http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/11/11/talibanplane.shtml Mosnews] ]

* November 27 2004 A US Registered CASA 212 contracted by the US Department of Defense to supply American forces deployed in remote areas of Afghanistan entered a box canyon and struck the 14,650 foot level of Baba Mountain, which has a peak elevation of 16,739 feet. The flight was about 25 nm north of the typical route between Bagram and Farah. All six occupants were killed [ [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20041127-0 Aviation Safety Network] ]

Summary per type

Helicopters

* MH-6J: 1
* AH-64 Apache: 3
* HH-60 Pave Hawk: 2
* UH-60 Black Hawk: 5
* CH-47 Chinook: 10
* CH-53 Super Stallion: 3
* MH-53 Pave Low: 2
* OH-58 Kiowa: 2
* UH-1N Huey: 1
* Cougar AS532: 1
* AB 212: 1
* Mi-17: 1
* Unknown: 1

Total: 33 helicopters (6 to hostile fire)

Fixed-wing aircraft

* C-130 Hercules: 2
* F-16 Falcon: 1
* KC-130 Hercules: 1
* MC-130 Combat Talon: 2
* Nimrod MR.2: 1
* U-2: 1

Total: 8 fixed wing aircraft (0 hostile fire)

Contract non-military aircraft

* AN-26: 1
* CASA 212: 1
* IL-76: 1
* MI-8: 1
* MI-26: 1

ee also

*List of aviation accidents and incidents during the Iraq War

References