Search for missing army helicopter

[Nereus]

It was wrongly reported earlier today that the helicopter had been found and all on board safe. Unnecessary trauma for the families of those missing.
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Search for missing army chopper resumes Monday

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... mes-monday

14 Aug 2016 at 20:57

The fate of five army officers whose helicopter went missing over Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest peak in Chiang Mai, remains unknown as the 3rd Army called off a search earlier than planned on Sunday evening due to bad weather.

The operation to locate the missing helicopter will resume early Monday and focus on three villages in an adjoining area between Mae Chaem district in Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son province.

Tossapol Puan-udom, chief of Mae Chaem district, denied media reports earlier on Sunday that the missing helicopter had made an emergency landing at Ban Parng Ka in Chiang Mai’s Samoeng district and all officers on board were safe. He said the chopper which landed there was sent by the Royal Thai Air Force to search for the missing officers but had to abort its mission because of weather conditions.

A UH-72 Lakota helicopter of the 3rd Army with five officers on board, including Maj Gen Nopporn Ruanchan, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, lost contact with the flight control tower at 10.30am, about 30 minutes after taking off from Pang Ma Pha district of Mae Hong Son. It was returning to Phitsanulok after completing a flood relief operation.

[Nereus]

Search for lost chopper intensifies

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/securit ... ntensifies

A war room has been set up to direct a search for the UH-72 Lakota helicopter of the 3rd Army which has gone missing with five officers on board including Nopporn Ruanchan, commander of the 4th Infantry Division.

Soldiers were mobilised to join a search party which set out on foot to the area where the helicopter probably went missing.

They have been joined by the forestry officials and local leaders familiar with the terrain of the area where the helicopter is believed to have disappeared off the radar.
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This is similar to the "accident" involving an Air Force helicopter less than 8 weeks ago. Now as then, it appears that they have no form of simple cheap ELT device to locate the aircraft.

[Nereus]

Another tragedy to add to their sad record.
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5 bodies, crashed helicopter found on Chiang Mai mountain

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... i-mountain

CHIANG MAI — The bodies of the five officers killed when their helicopter crashed on Doi Inthanon on Sunday have been found, including 4th Infantry Division commander Maj Gen Nopporn Ruanchan.

Maj Gen Kosol Prathumchart, commander of the 33rd Military Circle in Chiang Mai, confirmed that searchers had found the bodies and the wreckage on Monday.

The body of Maj Gen Nopporn had been identified and confirmed, he said.

The huge search and rescue operation, involving 400 soldiers split into 40 teams, found the crashed UH-72 Lakota helicopter about two kilometres southwest of the air force’s Doi Inthanon radar station in Mae Chaem district about 1.20pm.

Four of the bodies were found about a kilometre from the debris an hour later. The fifth was reported to have been in the wreckage.
The spot is 82 km from Pang Ma Pha district of Mae Hong Son where the helicopter took off at 10.30am on Sunday and 2,445 metres above sea level.

Maj Gen Kosol said the forested area was covered with thick fog and visibility was down to five to 10 metres.

The UH-72 Lakota helicopter of the 3rd Army, which was put into service last year, was returning to Phitsanulok after completing a flood relief operation in Mae Hong Son when it disappeared on the country’s highest peak.
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Four of the bodies were found about a kilometre from the debris an hour later. The fifth was reported to have been in the wreckage.

Cannot understand this? Maybe it ended up inverted due to pilot spatial disorientation and they fell out? There is something seriously wrong with their training methods to lead to an "accident" such as this. It must of been obvious before they took off that the weather was marginal.

[Nereus]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_UH-72_Lakota

On 7 June 2013, Thailand requested the sale of six UH-72A Lakotas with associated equipment, training, and support for an estimated cost of $77 million.[51] On 9 October 2013, the Thai government approved $55 million in funds to support the Royal Thai Army's acquisition of six UH-72A helicopters from 2013 to 2015.[52] On 28 March 2014, the Thai Army awarded a $34 million contract to Airbus Helicopter for six UH-72As, fitted with a mission equipment package including the AN/ARC-231 airborne radio terminal; deliveries were to begin by April 2015.[53] On 29 September 2014, Congress was notified of a Thailand request for the sale of another nine UH-72 Lakotas, related equipment, and support.[54][55] By November 2015, the six helicopters had been delivered.

[Bluesky]

Four of the bodies were found about a kilometre from the debris an hour later. The fifth was reported to have been in the wreckage.

One body found in the wreckage? I am quite happy to be corrected on this but I was of the view that UH-72 Lakota was crewed by by both a pilot and co-pilot.

[Nereus]

The chief of Doi Inthanon National Park, Poenthep Chareonsuabsakul, said he was informed by the soldiers at the crash site that Maj Gen Nopporn was found inside the wrecked helicopter, while the other four were found a short distance away.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... i-mountain
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Who knows. This report is from the same reporters that posted 3 days ago that the machine was located with all on board safe.
It was reported that there were two pilots, but it is not a big helicopter and can be flown safely with one pilot.

[StevePIraq]

Seeing as it would appear no country can afford to put adequate tracking systems on aircraft why don't they just install a mobile phone on all aircraft as is seems it is quite easy to locate a phone by triangulation. I know this may not work when tight out in the open ocean but over land surely this could work.

[hhinner]

Maybe the NBTC could come up with a special military aircraft tracking SIM. Must be easier than tracking 30 million tourists a year.

[StevePIraq]

Exactly

[oakdale160]

Fast forward a year or two from now--Same headline ,but substitute word submarine for helicopter.

[Nereus]

Maybe the NBTC could come up with a special military aircraft tracking SIM. Must be easier than tracking 30 million tourists a year.

The problem with cell phones is that they are not designed for any sort of impact, or G force. Crash an aircraft and there is a good chance that it will be destroyed on impact, especially the types of impacts that they seem to prefer here!

Satellite monitored ELT devices are relatively cheap, even more so for the military. They are designed to activate automatically above a certain G force, and are mounted on the aircraft in a position most likely to survive a crash.

There is also commercial tracking services. Being a secret service military here they are probably not an option!

http://www.spidertracks.com/

But as I see it, the problem with so many of these "accidents" here is all to do with proper training, and an ingrained "we are the greatest", mental attitude. I have experienced this firsthand with army pilots here!
That, combined with the military structure where the higher the rank, the more he must be obeyed.

[hhinner]

<snip> ...

That, combined with the military structure where the higher the rank, the more he must be obeyed.

Isn't that true in any military? The problem here is that the quality of orders given doesn't necessarily improve with rank when performance and military acumen aren't the main considerations for promotion.

[StevePIraq]

Not just Thailand, look at the Indian Military plane that has been missing for weeks plus the number of private and commercial planes that have gone missing. It seems no government is willing to implement a law to make tracking compulsary