Army To Investigate Low-Flying Helos Scattering DC Protestors | Talking Points Memo

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Hmm. Black helicopters used to be bad. Now apparently they’re good. What changed?

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That kind of stability augmentation system is usually redundant but can you imagine what you could do to it with a 9mm semi-auto at that elevation? I spent considerable time in those things and would never hot shot like that.

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I don’t disagree, however, we’re not talking about normal times.

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Also illegal under international law to use equipment that is reserved for medical purposes for war-fighting purposes.

Those red crosses are supposed to signal enemy forces not to shoot.

When you start using them for dual-purposes, they become legitimate targets in a war zone.

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As others have already mentioned,it was unnecessary and dangerous. Trump likes to play war.

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Yeah, it’s dangerous for the crew if anyone on the ground is armed, but you only call in this particular crowd control sortie if you expect an unarmed crowd below. It’s not “hot shotting,” it’s a deliberate maneuver and hold.

I used to spend a lot of time in helos too, civilian ones I hired for photo shoots. Had to learn how they worked, so we didn’t waste too much of the client’s money.

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Well, I agree – but US forces, and US-trained forces, act against unarmed civilians around the world whenever “necessary.” Some have even been decorated for doing it.

It has been happening for three quarters of a century – and longer, if we choose to count the WWII-era fire-bombing of Dresden and Tokyo, or the near-total vaporization of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Clearly, a finer calculus is needed if now we can’t even tell US civilians from foreign ones.

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Balloons & fishing line could bring a copter down.

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I spent my time in them in combat. My concern is how do you know it’s an “unarmed crowd”? Those were military aircraft not civilian. It’s hot shotting if its OD Green.

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Not to mention an engine failure in warm muggy conditions during hover/slow speed flight in a close urban environment. That would be a real catastrophe with potentially lots of civilian casualties. Not combat operations so there is not a need for the increased risk.

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That’s a bit of a myth. I don’t think it’s the case.

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I believe that only applies when the government isn’t essentially lawless.

You mean, like invading countries you are not at war with?

I believe the UCMJ was used to prosecute a few random war criminals who were later pardoned by the aforementioned lawless government.

Not to be flippant but, frankly, those are little more than quaint notions now.

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“The hell with you. I will not fire on helpless human beings.”

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Well, they were trying to have it both ways, using a Medevac helo with the red cross insignia prominent on the belly. “Don’t shoot while I bust up your demonstration!”

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I’m not sure. Could it be who is president?

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I doubt many of the protestors have read the Geneva Conventions. Who ever ordered those jockys to fly that mission should pay a steep price.

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What is “hot shotting,” @richardinjax ?

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Rotor downwash wouldn’t let that work. There are other ways to do it if you want to end up dead, or spending the rest of your life in prison.

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America is not at war with America. We were with Germany and Japan.

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