PAKTIKA, Afghanistan, March 22 (UPI) -- U.S military investigators are looking into whether a pilot was showing off near a remote Afghanistan outpost when his helicopter swooped too low and crashed.
Amateur video recently surfaced online showing the Feb. 6 incident in which an Apache helicopter swooped down over a coalition outpost in Paktika province, narrowly missing a building, ABC News reported Thursday. The helicopter pulled up in time, but the pilot apparently lost control, dropping down low again and crashing into the ground.
No one on the ground was injured and the crew suffered only minor injuries, the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force told ABC.
A former Blackhawk pilot told ABC the Apache pilot seemed to be attempting a "return to target" maneuver in which a low swoop is followed by an 180-degree turn and another swoop.
There was no enemy activity at the time of the incident, and some military experts told ABC it's possible the Apache pilot was performing the maneuver to show off for spectators on the ground.
