Air crashes in Afghanistan - Maintenance worries

6 April 2005 - 15 US soldiers and three civilian contractors die in helicopter crash in Ghazni province
28 June 2005 - 16 US soldiers die in Chinook crash in Kunar province (pic from US Chinook in Kunar on nice day AP)
16 August 2005 - 17 Spanish soldiers die when Cougar helicopter crashes near Herat
25 September 2005 - 5 US soldiers die in Chinook crash in Zabul province
11 November 2005 - Civilian cargo jet from Bagram crashes killing 8
24 April 2006- 5 die when US anti-drugs plane crashes in southern Afghanistan
6 May 2006 - 10 US soldiers die in helicopter crash in Kunar province
27 July 2006 - 16 people of multiple nationalities die in helicopter crash in south east

2nd September 2006

Twelve RAF personnel, a Royal Marine and an Army soldier were among those who died in the crash in the southern province of Kandahar on Saturday. An emergency call was made before the crash which it is believed up to press to be due to a "technical" fault.

STOP PRESS SATURDAY NIGHT 2/9/06 2200.

The British Defense Ministry said the crashed plane was a Nimrod MR2, a long-range aircraft that can carry up to 25 people and a crew of 13 for reconnaissance and communications missions - which makes one wonder how on earth the original story of a Chinook arose.......

The aircraft, believed to be a Chinook, belonged to the Nato-led force which has been fighting the Taleban.The "aircraft was supporting a NATO mission. It went off the radar and crashed in an open area" about 12 miles west of Kandahar city, said Maj. Scott Lundy, spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

There have been major concerns about the maintenance of the heavily used UK Chinooks (only 6 in theatre) , availability of maintenance crews, spares and facilities. More have been promised.

This is what the BBC said about helicopters in the Iraq theatre....

"RAF helicopter squadrons which could be hours away from dropping British troops into Iraq are having to undergo thorough maintenance after sorties.

Every time the Chinook and Puma helicopters land and take off their rotor blades suck in huge amounts of sand causing immense damage."

In the North poor weather regularly closes Kamdesh to Chinooks and other U.S. supply helicopters, cutting it off from vital supply routes for several weeks at a time.

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In the region of Helmand in the clash on Friday, insurgents attacked a police checkpoint, killing five officers and wounding seven in the Grieshk district about 250 miles southwest of Kabul, said Ghulam Muhiddin, the Helmand governor's spokesman.