Israeli Defence Force Sikorsky CH-53 Yas’ur helicopter experienced a non-injury emergency autorotation landing in central Israel.
Total POB has not been reported.
No one was injured in the incident, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The military said a maintenance team was working to repair the helicopter and get it flying again.
This was the latest in a series of malfunctions in the IDF’s aging fleet of Yasur helicopters, which are due to be replaced in the coming years.
In November, the pilots of one such aircraft were forced to make an emergency landing in an open field in southern Israel following a technical failure in a gear connected to its left rotor, which caused a fire that destroyed the aircraft. The pilots’ quick actions — landing the helicopter in under a minute — were credited with allowing all 14 soldiers on board to escape unscathed.
In January — two weeks after the helicopters were cleared for flight, having been grounded following the November incident — another Yasur helicopter made an emergency landing, that time in the southern West Bank, until mechanics were able to fix the aircraft and send it back to its base.
Israel’s fleet of Yasur heavy transport helicopters was purchased from the United States in the late 1960s. Though the aircraft have been upgraded and restored in the interim five decades, they are widely seen in the military as ready for retirement in favor of newer models.
