| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Philippine officials: terrorists may be using kites |
| 2007-09-17 |
| Al-Qaida-linked militants and their sympathizers may be using an unlikely weapon to strike at attack helicopters and cut the risk of aerial raids on their jungle strongholds: kites. A Huey helicopter encountered difficulty while flying back at night from a recent combat mission on the southern island of Jolo after a kite's thick nylon cord became dangerously entwined in its rotor, Philippine air force chief Lt. Gen. Horacio Tolentino said Monday. The pilots had noticed unusual vibrations, and managed to land safely in a Jolo military camp, he said. An air force officer familiar with the incident told The Associated Press that the kite's cord most probably struck the Vietnam War-era Huey over a sparsely populated mountainous region, from which the aircraft evacuated soldiers wounded during a clash with suspected Abu Sayyaf militants. It was unlikely the kite had been flown by ordinary civilians, the officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. Several kites may have been flown, then tied to trees surrounding a rebel encampment as an extra buffer against nighttime air attacks, the officer said. "They really have an intention to bring down our helicopters," Tolentino told the AP. After the incident, Tolentino said he instructed air force pilots to undertake "evasive maneuvers" aimed to protect choppers from kites during landing and takeoff in Jolo, especially at night. Inspectors were deployed to ensure no kites were being flown near air force areas, he said. Kites' potentially lethal power caught the country's attention last May, when a Huey helicopter crashed on a busy street near an air base in central Cebu province, killing nine people, seven of them on the ground. Investigators said the nylon kite cord, which accidentally got coiled in the assembly connecting the main rotor to the aircraft's body, may have caused the crash. Tolentino said the air force endorsed a bill to Congress that would penalize people who fly kites near airports and air bases nationwide following that deadly accident. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #12 Several kites may have been flown, then tied to trees surrounding a rebel encampment as an extra buffer against nighttime air attacks, Neon sign blazing "BOMB ME HERE!" |
| Posted by: ed 2007-09-17 23:23 |
| #11 Use night vision systems or LIDAR to locate the kites and direct numerous missiles inside the circle of their tether locations. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-09-17 22:17 |
| #10 I hope Duh was joking.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-09-17 20:24 |
| #9 Because you then have to take the fingers to the medic to have them reattached, or at least have stitches put in. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2007-09-17 19:00 |
| #8 do not run your fingers over the blade to clean the dirt off..... Why USN, Ret? |
| Posted by: Duh 2007-09-17 18:28 |
| #7 Wire-strike kits are avialable for most helicopters; basically it is a blade of hardened steel that has a rather sharp edge. mounted on the cabin forward of the rotors and also alongside the fuselage on areas that are potential wire catch points, these blades will sever the wires and allow the a/c to continue flight. If you look at most police and news choppers (example: bell jet rangers) you will see this wire strike blade above the cockpit with the tip leading the base at about a 45 degree angle. We put such kits on our(HS-14) SH-60s several years ago; do not run your fingers over the blade to clean the dirt off..... |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-09-17 14:24 |
| #6 Read the "Kite Runner" to learn about muslims and kites, and other things about Afganistan. |
| Posted by: Heriberto Ulusomble6667 2007-09-17 12:06 |
| #5 I saw it posted right here on this forum that the Taliban had outlawed kites. The speculation was that they were too much fun and so they were likely to make the good muzzies forget one or more of their five daily head bangings on the floor of the local mosque. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2007-09-17 11:34 |
| #4 They are unislamic when they are used for giving a moment of happiness to people. But nothing is unislamic if it allows to kill infidels. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-09-17 11:34 |
| #3 But I have it on good authority that kites are un-Islamic. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-09-17 11:16 |
| #2 Old trick. In WW2 we used barrage balloons. But I always thought that kites was an Aghan thing? |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-09-17 09:30 |
| #1 Where's Charlie Brown's kite-eating tree when you need it? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-09-17 09:17 |