Message posted by Mark Lincoln on August 18, 2011 at 12:35:33 PST:

The loss was due to the aircraft descending into a ring vortex state at the same time as it entered a thermal inversion. the combination produced an uncontrollable high-rate of descent. The aircraft was to land within an enclosure. Limited forward speed and little wind is one thing that can leave a helicopter with it's rotor flying in it's own tip vortices resulting in loss of lift. The enclosure held the heat more than the surrounding countryside, leading to the inversion. Sometimes no amount of collective can keep you flying.

The 'secret' stuff would have been equipment, not the basic modifications to the airframe such as the rotor hub cover (open literature for decades). Nor are RAM materials exactly 'secret.'

The fact is that weapons are developed to be used and if you are never to use most weapons then you wasted the money.

Was exposure worth it? Ask the folks going over the intel collected.

Would the Pakistanis let the Chinese inspect the wreckage? Hell yes. If you don't want your pals to take advantage of what you leave laying around, don't leave it laying around.

In Reply to: Re: Did China get access to the crashed helicopter? posted by Mark on August 17, 2011 at 19:26:08 PST:

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