List of Aviation Accidents and Incidents in The War in Afghanistan - 2005

2005

• December 4: A CH-47 Chinook helicopter 91-00269 was struck by small arms fire. There were two injuries and the aircraft was consumed in the post-landing fire.

• October 31: A Dutch CH-47D Chinook helicopter, D-104, made a hard landing after losing power in cruise flight. There were several injuries and the aircraft was destroyed by Dutch troops after salvaging usable parts.

• October 22: UH-60 Black Hawk crashes in Oruzgan province, injuring three.

• October 14: An RAF Harrier GR7A was destroyed and another had been damaged in a rocket attack by Taliban forces while parked on the tarmac at Kandahar. No one was injured in the attack. The damaged Harrier was repaired at the airfield while the destroyed one was replaced by another fighter which flew out from Britain on the same evening.

• October 7: A MH-47E Chinook helicopter, 89-00160, of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment was destroyed in an accident but all crew members emerged virtually unscathed.

• September 25: Five US soldiers were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in Zabul province while returning from an operation. Though initially reported as an accident, the crash was later confirmed to have been caused by hostile fire.

• September 10: An Afghan army Mi-17 helicopter crashed in the Panjshir Valley following a memorial ceremony marking the 4th anniversary of the assassination by Al Qaeda of rebel commander Ahmed Shah Masood. Two passengers were injured, but no one was killed, in the helicopter which was carrying military and government officials from the memorial events.

• August 16: Seventeen Spanish soldiers were killed when their Cougar AS532 helicopter crashes near Herat. A second Spanish helicopter made an emergency landing, injuring five soldiers. The crash was reported as an accident, although witnesses said they took AAA fire from a nearby village.

• July 29: A US AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed near Baghram airbase. The crew survived.

• July 27: A Dutch CH-47D Chinook helicopter, D-105, crashed in a landing incident in a brownout while inserting troops. No injuries but the aircraft was written-off.

• June 28: A US CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down in Kunar province by Taliban commander Qari Ismail, killing all 16 US Special Operations servicemen on board. The US military says it was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. The helicopter was on a rescue mission for Operation Red Wings a team of four SEAL members, pinned down by Taliban gunmen.

• June 25: A Special Forces RAF Hercules carrying the new British ambassador in Afghanistan caught fire after setting down at a landing strip outside the town of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province. No casualties reported.

• June 22: U-2 spyplane crashes at Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE on return from a mission in Afghanistan, killing the pilot.

• April 6: A US CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in a sandstorm near Ghazni, killing all 15 American soldiers and three civilian contractors.