2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shootdown
On 6 August 2011, a U.S. CH-47D Chinook military helicopter operating with the call sign Extortion 17 (pronounced "one-seven") was shot down while transporting a Quick Reaction Force attempting to reinforce a Joint Special Operations Command unit of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the Tangi Valley in Maidan Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan.
A Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter in Bagram, Afghanistan, similar to the one that was shot down | |
| Shootdown | |
|---|---|
| Date | 6 August 2011 |
| Summary | Shot down by rocket-propelled grenade |
| Site | Tangi Valley, Maidan Wardak Province, Afghanistan 34°1′22.04″N 68°47′7.82″E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing CH-47D Chinook |
| Operator | United States Army |
| Call sign | Extortion 17 |
| Registration | 84-24175 |
| Occupants | 38 |
| Passengers | 33 |
| Crew | 5 |
| Fatalities | 38 |
| Survivors | 0 |
The resulting crash killed all 38 people and a military working dog on board including 17 US Navy SEALs, two United States Air Force Pararescue, one United States Air Force Combat Control Team member, one pilot and two crewmen of the United States Army Reserve, one pilot and one crewman of the United States Army National Guard, seven members of the Afghan National Security Forces, and one Afghan interpreter. All 30 American military personnel killed, the shootdown of Extortion 17 represents the greatest single-incident loss of American lives in Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, surpassing the 16 lost in the downing of Turbine 33, a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) MH-47 helicopter, during Operation Red Wings on 28 June 2005.