Adding exclusive new details to the account of the assault on bin Laden's hideout, officials described just how the SEAL raiders loudly ditched a foundering helicopter right outside bin Laden's door, ruining the plan for a surprise assault. That forced them to abandon plans to run a squeeze play on bin Laden — simultaneously entering the house stealthily from the roof and the ground floor.
It also seems like it was pilot error due to the warm conditions and not a malfunction that crashed the stealth chopper.
The plan unraveled as the first helicopter tried to hover over the compound. The Black Hawk skittered around uncontrollably in the heat-thinned air, forcing the pilot to land. As he did, the tail and rotor got caught on one of the compound's 12-foot walls. The pilot quickly buried the aircraft's nose in the dirt to keep it from tipping over, and the SEALs clambered out into an outer courtyard.
Even though he clipped the wall that burying the nose in the dirt maneuver may have saved those SEALs lives. It was also cool to see how the SEALs had to call an audible right out of the block. They wanted to go in from the roof and the ground floor using stealth. Instead they ended up in front of the gate and had to go room-by-room to clear the house.
This is one thing out soldiers have over the Red Chinese, North Korea, and Iran. When things go bad they don't wait for orders from above for their next move but instead they adapt and get the job done.
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