Chick watch turned disastrous

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 16-08-02 AT 01:25 PM (GMT)]
If you don’t think the US military can’t get into more trouble with the local population….

Whirlwinds send umbrellas airborne and cause a panic

By Reuters, 8/15/2002

OME – The United States and Italy launched a joint inquiry yesterday into why US Air Force helicopters flew at low altitude over a packed beach, panicking vacationers and injuring five people.

The rotating blades of the three helicopters whipped up ferocious whirlwinds as the pilots skimmed Italy’s southeastern coast Tuesday, yanking up umbrellas and scattering beach chairs in their wake. The injuries, caused by the flying furniture, were called minor.

Italian media reported that the two large Chinooks and one Blackhawk helicopter swooped down on the beach so crews could wave to the local sunbathing beauties.

The US Embassy in Italy said in a statement that the military helicopters had ”caused disruption and injuries to people on the beach.”

”US officials, in close cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Defense, have begun an inquiry and will be sending a joint fact-finding team to fully investigate the incident,” the statement said.

It added that Italy’s defense minister, Antonio Martino, called US Ambassador Mel Sembler to discuss the incident. ”Ambassador Sembler expressed his sincere regret over the incident,” it said.

US officials said the helicopters were on a NATO-authorized mission from Germany en route to the Balkans, to support the NATO peacekeeping mission in the region.

Witnesses said the helicopters appeared to slow down as they approached the beach and people inside them waved to the tourists as they clattered overhead, Italian media reported.

Witnesses reported seeing the helicopters do the same thing 6 miles north of the affected beach and then once again further south. No damage was reported at those areas.

In 1998, a low-flying US jet on a training flight in northern Italy hit the support cables of a ski gondola, sending 20 people plunging to their deaths. The pilot was acquitted of malpractice by a US military court. He was later sentenced to six months in prison and discharged from the Marines for helping destroy a videotape of the flight.

This story ran on page A25 of the Boston Globe on 8/15/2002.

http://boston.com/dailyglobe2/227/nation/Low_flying_US_military_chopper…