THIS is the shocking moment a damaged helicopter plummets to the ground while being airlifted by a second chopper.
The Israeli helicopter rescue operation went awry reportedly due to a harness failure, dropping the chopper mid-flight.
A heavy-lifting helicopter, a Yasur, had been sent to recover a smaller chopper which had made an emergency landing after encountering bad weather in the Gush Etzion area, directly south of Jerusalem, in the West Bank.
It’s understood the smaller aircraft, a Yanshuf, had been damaged in the storm.
The rescue operation by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) intended for the Yasur to use the sling-load method to airlift the grounded chopper.
While in flight, the damaged aircraft became detached from the helicopter that was carrying it.
Footage shows the moment it freefalls through the air to the ground.
Only the tail boom broke off the Yanshuf upon impact – the rest of the aircraft remaining mostly intact.
Fortunately, there were no casualties.
A military investigative committee will determine what went wrong.
The crew may have deliberately jettisoned the load if there was a fear they were in danger.
The Yasur CH-53 Sea Stallion has long been a go-to platform for sling-load operations, most prominently with the U.S. Marine Corps.
It is designed to carry 9,654 pounds over a distance of 110 nautical miles in high and hot environments.
It follows the gut-wrenching moment a helicopter crashed after becoming entangled in overhead cables, killing everyone onboard.
Footage shows a black Robinson R44 helicopter slowly approaching the cables at a ski resort in Russia.
The pilot appears to believe he has gained sufficient height to safely clear them.
But moments later, the aircraft is suddenly snagged and violently yanked backwards.
It breaks free and plunges to the ground, crumpling into a twisted wreck.
Bystanders watch in horror as the mangled helicopter disappears beneath mounds of snow.
The victims were two transport company executives who were visiting the Ashatly Park recreation centre in Russia’s Perm region.
They were later named as Ilyas Gimadutdinov, 41, and his colleague Elmir Konrad, 40.
Gimadutdinov, the founder of transport firm Tattranskom, was married and had two daughters.
