Iraqi Mi-35 Gunship Chopper Crashes, 4 Killed

An Iraqi attack helicopter crashed on Wednesday due to a technical failure killing all four crew members during an army aviation mission.

“During this morning, an aircraft crashed south of the Mosul battlefield, due to a technical failure,” the Joint Operations Command (JOC) coordinating the fight against the IS militant group said in a statement. We have found the black box and will disclose why the plane was crashed, Shakhawan Abdullah an MP from Baghdad's security and Defense Committee was quoted as saying by RUDAW Wednesday.

The entire crew was killed in the crash, an official in the JOC said. “The crew of four — two pilots and two technicians –was killed,” a captain in Iraq’s army aviation said.

“They were heading to Qayyarah on a routine mission,” he said, referring to an area that has been the main military hub south of Mosul since the launch on October 17 of an operation to retake the city from IS militants.

The helicopter was a Russian-made Mi-35 gunship, he said. He said that the intensity of the war on IS recently meant that the necessary maintenance work on such helicopters was not always satisfactory. “There is a lot of strain on these aircraft, that have us kept flying lately,” the captain added.