Time to fly those choppers in defensive maneuvers...

...so CBS reports tonight the military has told all chopper pilots, after three helicopters have been downed in the past two weeks. (Somebody's going to make some good money on replacements - maybe that's the progress they keep talking about - or the bump up in the economy.)

What have they been doing? It hasn't been thought necessary up till now?

I know nothing about military maneuvers. Does a chopper pilot have to have orders to fly defensively? If he flies defensively without getting those orders does he get in trouble? Because after that Chinook got blasted out of the sky, I'd think I'd be flying as defensively as possible every time I took one up. As a matter of fact, I'd think after that one that was blasted around the time Wulfowitless was making his transition, I would have been thinking defensive flight maneuvers. As a matter of fact, if I were participating in action in the daily and constant onslaught of rebel/guerilla attack, I think I'd be flying defensively.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.


Update Saturday 11/08: Nell (sidebar) forwards this message from Bob:

I watched the NBC Nightly News after the Chinook crash that killed 15. They either had someone directly from the military, or were quoting somebody in the military (I can't remember which), who said that chopper pilots routinely use evasive maneuvers and have all along since they arrived in Iraq. Sometimes flying very high (hard for missiles and RPG's to reach), sometimes very low and fast (hard to track and target). It's possible they've been ordered to take even more extreme measures now, but I don't think those pilots are stupid. They've been taking precautions all along. Probably some stupidity on the part of CBS, the military spokesman, or a combination of the two made it sound wrong.

Thanks, Bob. I'm sure you're right.