Army helicopter located 12 years after its crash in Tak

TAK: -- The wreckage of Army's Bell 206 helicopter was located in a dense forest here Wednesday, a senior Army officer said.

Col Phadung Yingphaibul, commander of the Mae Sot Taskforce, said a patrol unit of his taskforce located the wreckage in Tak's Umphang district's borderline with Kamphaeng Phet's Klong Lan disrict.

The skeletons the two pilots and two mechanics were found with the wreckage.

The skeletons may be retrieved in about two or three days, he said.

-- The Nation 2009-09-30

It is great that they found the wreck, and the bodies of crew. It will give the families a chance at closure after all these years.

It is very surprising to me that it is just now being discovered. You would think that someone would have seen or heard it crash and investigated or that someone would have "stumbled" up on it before now. I will admit that I know very little about Tak (spent the night there at a friends house during a road trip) and the area mentioned in the post, but 12 years is a long time to go unnoticed. At the same time, it is good that it has been found and that, yes, the families can now have some sort of closure. May the brave soldiers/airmen RIP.

Thats jungle out there, and partly nature reserve with not many people. Hard to spot anything out there, but glad they finaly did and can give them a decent burial.

Good that it was located. I wonder how they found it. Were they looking or was it by accident?

I may just call them the next time I lose my glasses!

no one looked for it when it was missing, no elt transponder?

geeeze

It is very surprising to me that it is just now being discovered. You would think that someone would have seen or heard it crash and investigated or that someone would have "stumbled" up on it before now. I will admit that I know very little about Tak (spent the night there at a friends house during a road trip) and the area mentioned in the post, but 12 years is a long time to go unnoticed. At the same time, it is good that it has been found and that, yes, the families can now have some sort of closure. May the brave soldiers/airmen RIP.

It is not surprising to me as I live 6 km outside of Klong Lan.

You take the route 1117 from Klong Lan through the Mae Wong national park to Chong Yen and you are then only 30 odd kms from Umphang.

The tricky bit from there is the fact there is actually no road between the two and to get from one to the other the route is back though Klong Lan via Khampaeng Phet, up to Tak and across to Mae Sot then turn left down to Umphang. A total of about 350 km for the one way trip.

If the helicopter was 10km inside the jungle then it was pure luck that it was found and it will not be an easy recovery job though the remains of the crew will be fairly easy to bring back.

Edited October 1, 200916 yr by billd766

That's amazing to me, it can be assumed that no person has been in that spot in 12 years....

Yep, it's a big, dense country out there. There's lots of upcountry Thailand that has never been trodden on and you could even be a few yards from something and never know it's there, especially when it's become a part of the jungle. On a similar tack, how about the loss of Steve Fossett's plane for so long. I know they were looking in the wrong spot, but there were many planes and satellites searching for it and it was only found after some hikers happened upon his kit. Planes were being found in the desert that had been there decades!

It is very surprising to me that it is just now being discovered. You would think that someone would have seen or heard it crash and investigated or that someone would have "stumbled" up on it before now. I will admit that I know very little about Tak (spent the night there at a friends house during a road trip) and the area mentioned in the post, but 12 years is a long time to go unnoticed. At the same time, it is good that it has been found and that, yes, the families can now have some sort of closure. May the brave soldiers/airmen RIP.

Umphang is quite a distance from Tak and the terrain is very different. I've done some hiking and a short river raft ride in the area. Thailand's largest waterfall, Nam Tok Thilawsu, is usually approached from Umphang, (well worth the trip), and Umphang is usually reached via the spectacular road from Mae Sot. The area between Umphang and Kamphaeng Phet is very rugged and sparsely populated. It's also a relatively large area. One of the things I remember about the hiking, is that there was a stretch that was better done on the back of an elephant, because the 'trail' was so difficult. I made the mistake of doing it on foot and at one point I was in mud up to my waist when locals on elephants passed me. I was also amazed at how steep an incline elephants can negotiate. Before seeing that, I thought elephant rides were just for tourists, but now I know there are places still out there where they are the best way to go, for transport of both people and goods. It would be interesting to know how the helicopter was found, weather from the air or the ground.

Edited October 1, 200916 yr by siamiam

Yes, in the wet season the best way to travel in that area is by elephant, as the dirt roads are usually washed out for weeks or months at a time. aAbout 10 years I wanted to view Thilawsu Falls at the height of the wet, when the main road from the north is closed. Only way to get there was on elephant-back, up and over two three lower peaks. It took a full day in each direction. Even the elephants lost their footing in the mud at times.

Edited November 14, 200916 yr by wayfarer108