Black Hawk shootdown

With so many controllers in the AWACS, why didn t someone intervene in the Black Hawk shootdown ... 

This chapter delves into the causation of the loss of a US. Army Black Hawk helicopter and all its occupants from friendly fire by a US. Air Force F-15 over northern Iraq in 1994. This example was chosen because the controversy and multiple viewpoints and books about the shootdown provide the information necessary to create most of the STAMP analysis. Accident reports often leave out important causal information (as did the official accident report in this case). Because of the nature of the accident, most of the focus is on operations. Appendix B presents an example of an accident where engineering development plays an important role. Social issues involving public health are the focus of the accident analysis in appendix C. 

The shootdown obviously involved a communication failure the F-15 pilots did not know the U.S. Army Black Hawks were in the area or that they were targeting friendly aircraft. Problems in communication between the three services (Air Force, Army, and Navy) are legendary. Procedures had been established to attempt to eliminate these problems in Operation Provide Comfort. 

Snook, Scott A. 2002. Friendly Fire The Accidental Shootdown of U.S. Black Hawks Over Northern Iraq. Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press. 

Snook, S.A. (2000) Friendly Fire The Accidental Shootdown of US Black Hawks overNorthem Iraq. Princeton University Press Princeton. 

Snook, S.A. 2000. Friendly Fire. The Accidental Shootdown ofU.S. Black Hawks over Northern Iraq. New Jersey Princeton University Press. 

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