ATTRITION
THE RELEASE of a new Spanishdocumentary film, Zona Hostil(Rescue Under Fire), earlierthis year has resulted in theemergence of previouslyunknown details about a SpanishAir Force AS332B Super Pumacrash in Afghanistan four yearsago. At the time of the accidenton August 3, 2012, InternationalSecurity Assistance Force (ISAF)officials confirmed that oneof its helicopters had madea forced landing in westernAfghanistan, but apart fromstating that all crew membershad been recovered safely, nofurther details were releasedand the nationality and type ofhelicopter were not revealed(see Attrition, October 2012).
The helicopter was one oftwo Super Pumas flown by theSpanish Air Force’s HELISAFdetachment in Afghanistan andwas tasked with rescuing twoUS military personnel injured byan improvised explosive device.They departed their base atCamp Arena, Herat, at 1050hrsand on arrival at the incidentsite, one Super Puma landed, while the other provided topcover. However, shortly aftertouchdown, the soft earth underthe port main undercarriage gaveway and the helicopter rolledover onto its port side. All ninepersonnel on board then exitedsafely, without injury. Althoughthe second Puma then tried toland and begi…
