Attrition Report
AIR COMBAT Command has released the results of the Accident Investigation Report into the loss of a US Air Force HH-60G in Iraq on March 15 this year (see Attrition, May, p92), citing a wire strike as the cause of the crash. The report, published on October 29, identifies the Pave Hawk as 92-6466 ‘AK’ from the Alaska Air National Guard’s (ANG’s) 176th Wing/210th Rescue Squadron (RQS) at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
On March 15, 2018, at approximately 1840hrs Zulu time (Z), 2140hrs local time (L), the mishap aircraft (MA), assigned to the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW), and operating within the USCENTCOM area of responsibility, crashed in an uninhabited desert area. The report did not detail the location, but other officials previously identified it as 18 miles (29km) southeast of al-Qaim in Iraq’s western Anbar province. Four flight crew and three members of the Guardian Angel rescue team were fatally injured. The MA was destroyed upon impact, there were no other injuries or fatalities, and there was no damage to private property.
Those killed were Capt Andreas B O’Keeffe, Capt Christopher Tripp Zanetis, Sgt Dashan J Briggs and Sgt Christopher J Raguso, all assigned to the New…
