Today the border situation intensified

[Rusher]

LINK

Rocks Thrown at Border Patrol Chopper
Aug 25 3:31 PM US/Eastern


YUMA, Ariz.


Illegal immigrants threw rocks at a Border Patrol helicopter, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing when one of the rocks damaged the rotor, the agency said.

Neither the pilot nor the Border Patrol observer was injured.

The A-Star helicopter was two miles west of the U.S. Port of Entry in Andrade, Calif., on Tuesday when a group of immigrants began throwing rocks at the aircraft.

One baseball-sized rock gashed the rotor, forcing the pilot to land nearby, said Michael Gramley, spokesman for the Border Patrol sector based in Yuma, Ariz.

Gramley said he did not know how high the helicopter was hovering when it was struck, but he said it was being repaired and is expected back in service soon.

After the incident, 17 people were apprehended for illegally crossing the border, and two of them were being investigated for smuggling. Ten immigrants evaded capture.

The investigation into the rock-throwing was continuing.

 

[dasmi]

Nothing new. This happens all the time down there.

 

[Ian]

OMG! We must ban baseball-sized rocks!

 

[Zrex]

Heh. Yeah, I guess if the border patrol can let a helicopter get taken out by a guy with a rock, its probably best if we just surrender and learn spanish.

 

[Luchtaine]

Ultra deadly sniper weapon baseball sized rocks capable of takeing out helicopters.

 

[El Tejon]

No doubt a .50 caliber rock.

.50=tH3 d34dly

 

[Moonclip]

Whoever threw that rock is either the luckiest person ever or if they can actually throw a rock with such speed and accuracy to down a helicopter they should immediately be drafted to the Yankees. I smell BS here.

 

[R.H. Lee]

sheesh. That's reminiscent of the Palestinians pelting Israeli tanks with rocks. But that's what happens when you occupy someone else's land.

 

[Delmar]

Picture this story a couple of decades ago with Bill Jordan in the passengers seat! Lotsa dead folks, me thinks...................

 

[kbr80]

Illegal immigrants threw rocks at a Border Patrol helicopter

Lock, Load, fire when ready.

 

[Delmar]

It is rather surprising the helo pilot did not pull a hand full of collective and dust them down really good. Hard to see much when a whirlybird blows what feels like 10 pounds of sand into your eyeballs......

 

[feedthehogs]

A hovering chopper a hundred feet off the deck is not a hard target to hit.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Ten immigrants evaded capture.

They've probably already joined gangs in Los Angeles.

 

[QuickDraw]

A hovering chopper a hundred feet off the deck is not a hard target to hit.

I don't know about you,but I can't throw a baseball
sized rock 100 feet up in the air!
I'm getting too old.

QuickDraw

 

[craig]

maybe they should give the border patrol some cobra choppers.

 

[Fletchette]

Call me skeptical...

Perhaps the chopper was shot down, and a "rock" was the only alibi they could come up with.

 

[bg]

Too bad a minigun wasn't plugged in..Doesn't have to be with bullets.
Paintballs filled with bright pink paint & skunk urine would work.

 

[Harve Curry]

QOUTE:
"Paintballs filled with bright pink paint & skunk urine would work."


Can't do, that would be BIOLOGICAL WARFARE

 

[telewinz]

Ultra deadly sniper weapon baseball sized rocks capable of taking out helicopters.

An illegal shipment of this high tech weaponry is reported to be on it's way to the Middle East.

 

[kaiserworks]

In most states, you throw a rock at a cop and thats assault with a deadly weapon. A rock can kill, remember Goliath? Granted the chopper had to put down but wouldn't an assault of that magnitude allow for deadly force to be used against the assailant?

 

[Nekron]

wouldn't an assault of that magnitude allow for deadly force to be used against the assailant?

You would think so! The first thing I thought when I read that story was, "Why no return fire?". Assuming, of course, that the helo was still stable-in-flight after the rock hit.

The rock-thrower should have been on the receiving end of a high speed projectile, himself.

 

[Fletchette]

How far can you throw a rock? I find this story to be completely unplausible. A coyote/drug smuggler probably shot it down and the Feds are not reporting it for fear of igniting more border controversy.

 

[longrifleman]

Slightly off topic but.....

I thought rotors were pretty tough. How difficult is it to repair rotors? How big a chunk would you have to knock out to cause a problem? I'm guessing it was vibration that would be the problem.

I'd have been tempted to sorta crash land on the dude trying out for the Yankees myself.

 

[DelayedReaction]

They didn't 'knock the helicopter' down or anything. They threw a rock, it hit the rotor, and the pilot decided to make sure nothing was damaged. Score one for common sense.

 

[Moondoggie]

I had a little experience in helo outfits in the service, but I wasn't a wing-nut. However, I DO know that helo rotor blades are made of composite material. I also know that even a crack in one is bad juju, a chunk missing from one is an emergency. An out of balance rotor is a major event...unless the bird can get down immediately it will probably destroy the aircraft. Kinda just shakes itself to pieces catastrophically.

Fist-sized rock at 100 ft downing a helo is entirely plausible, especially since the smaller ones like the border partol uses only has 2 rotor blades. A rock impacting the windscreen or anywhere in the upper portion of the fuselage would most likely bounce upward; hello rotor blade!

We lost a Cobra in my squadron when a reman rotor blade separated from the rotor assy. Next rotation of the remaining blade was through the cockpit, cutting both pilot and gunner in half instantly. They never knew what hit them. Both aviators were reservists and their spouses collected millions from the blade refurbishing company. We had to retain the wreckage due to the investigation, had to move it outside and cover it with tarps after awhile due to the aroma.