American Black Hawk helicopter emergency landing in Charles de Gaulle Square roundabout in Bucharest

A helicopter belonging to the American Army has made an emergency landing on Thursday in the north of the Capital, in the roundabout in Charles de Gaulle Square, where it knocked down two light poles.

The Black Hawk helicopter was flying over the Romania Capital with five other similar helicopters when it suddenly lost altitude and forced landing in Aviatorilor Boulevard, right at the roundabout. The helicopters were performing a training exercise, a rehearsal flight for the July 20 air parade on Aviation Day.

The American helicopter shot down two light poles on Aviatorilor Boulevard. There were no casualties in the incident. There are several crews of Police, ISU, Ambulance on the spot.

“The US Embassy is aware of the incident and we are closely following developments. We understand that there were no injuries. We work with our Romanian partners to resolve the situation and we will provide updated information as they become available,” says the US Embassy in Romania in a statement.

Following the incident, the ceremonies scheduled for July 20 on Romanian Aviation Day have been canceled.

According to the spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, Constantin Spinu, the American Black Hawk helicopter was performing a training flight for Aviation Day, when it reported a technical failure that required an emergency landing.

The Bucharest Military Prosecutor’s Office has opened a criminal case for non-compliance with legal measures for safety and health at work, said military prosecutor Florin Bobin, spokesman for the Bucharest Military Prosecutor’s Office, who was on the scene.

At the time of the incident, a patrol car of the traffic police was in the roundabout and they stooped the traffic immediately as they saw the helicopter was losing altitude.

“We were the first car in the roundabout when we saw the helicopter was flying at low altitude! We immediately realized it’s something wrong and we stopped a truck and the other cars that were they. Thus the pilot could land in the roundabout,” the traffic police who were on the spot recounted.

The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk are medium-heavy, multi-role helicopters with two engines and a four-bladed rotor. The Black Hawk is the main transport and multi-role helicopter of the US military, especially the US Land Forces.

The UH-60 Black Hawk first entered service in 1979 as a tactical transport helicopter and has since been produced in several versions and over 4,000 units have been made. The helicopter has been used in almost every theater in the world in recent decades, with Americans using it mainly in Afghanistan, Iraq or Somalia.