Chopper

An autonomous helicopter drone crashed in Libya while flying a surveillance mission for NATO as it continues to enforce a no-fly zone over the country, officials confirmed Tuesday. 6a00d8341c630a53ef01538f583792970b-pi The robotic chopper used by the U.S. Navy, known as a MQ-8B Fire Scout, was hovering above Libya's central coast at 12:20 a.m. PDT when NATO's command center lost contact with it. "This drone helicopter, unmanned, was performing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance over Libya to monitor pro-Kadafi forces threatening the civilian population," NATO Wing Cmdr.

A NATO helicopter crashed Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, killing two service members in the third such fatal incident in the past three weeks, Western military officials said. The Taliban movement claimed responsibility, saying it had downed a Western chopper in the Sabari district of Khost province, near the Pakistan border. However, the insurgents routinely claim to have shot down any NATO aircraft that crashes. Military officials said the cause of the crash was under investigation.

When a U.S. military helicopter was destroyed in the backyard of Osama bin Laden's compound, it left not only a pile of smoldering wreckage but tantalizing evidence of a secret stealth chopper. The quest for a helicopter that can slip behind enemy lines without being heard or detected by radar has been the Holy Grail of military aviation for decades and until this week nobody had thought such a craft existed. But aviation experts are now convinced that the Pentagon may have developed such an aircraft.

The thump-thump-thump of rotor blades above the South Bay is the sound of the world's largest civilian helicopter maker emerging from the economic downturn. After two years of layoffs and slumping sales, things are looking up for Robinson Helicopter Co., which for decades has manufactured low-cost helicopters for use by television news operations, banks transporting money between branches and, of course, police departments that depend on them for surveillance and rescue missions.

Nine Western service members died Tuesday in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, making this the deadliest year for NATO in the nine-year war. Military officials did not immediately disclose the nationalities of the dead or say precisely where the crash happened. Two other Western troops, an Afghan soldier and an American civilian were injured, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. Combat deaths in June and July had spiked to the highest levels of the conflict.

The Dodgers were held in check by a pitcher with an earned-run average of more than five. Then they were brought to their knees by a chopper to third. The ball hit by Chris Denorfia in the ninth inning bounced over the outstretched glove of third baseman Casey Blake, rolled down the foul line, skipped past the rolled-up tarp along the wall and evaded the grasp of left fielder Scott Podsednik. Denorfia rounded first, second and third. He easily beat the ball to home plate.

I could see a river of flame below me, a glowing red lava tube that sliced across the jagged black landscape of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The seething, molten rock was so close I could feel the heat and smell the sulfur. Nearby, a stand of eucalyptus trees erupted in flames as lava touched it. I was whirling above Kilauea — one of the most active volcanoes in the world — in a helicopter that had no door. In the seat in front of me sat a pilot and a Times photographer, who leaned precariously out of the cabin of the chopper to shoot pictures.

A helicopter crash in volatile southern Afghanistan killed three U.S. service members and a civilian employee, the Western military said Friday. The overnight crash in Zabul province also injured "numerous" others aboard, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. It identified the craft as an Air Force CV-22 Osprey, which it said is used for long-range infiltration and resupply. The Taliban claimed to have shot down the chopper, but insurgents routinely issue such boasts whenever any Western aircraft goes down.

They built the roadblock across the highway out of whatever they could find -- burning tires, the shell of a refrigerator, a rusty bed frame, a palm tree stump, a beaten-up camper shell and eight bodies, one in a makeshift coffin, another stuffed into a suitcase. The young men of the Carrefour suburb of Port-au-Prince then furiously interrogated drivers Saturday about what they were carrying in their cars. They were sick of people from the earthquake-wrecked capital dumping the dead on their streets in the middle of the night.