A US Navy heavy transport helicopter CH-53E suddenly caught fire at the Twentynine Palms base in California. The incident occurred on August 22 and was confirmed by the 3rd Naval Air Force on August 25 (US time).
The video that went viral on social media showed the fire quickly engulfing the entire f course of the plane while it was parked on the parking lot. Firefighters at the base immediately sprayed water to control the situation, while the crew and people on the helicopter were able to evacuate safely. No casualties were recorded.
The spokesman for the 3rd Air Force said the fire had been extinguished and the cause of the fire was still being investigated. The US Navy has not yet announced specific damage to the CH-53E.
CH-53E Super Stallion is a heavy transport helicopter, developed from the CH-53 Sea Stallion model from the 1970s. This helicopter model was deployed in 1981 and is expected to be in service until 2030. With a massive size, the CH-53E is considered one of the largest military helicopters in the world today.
Each CH-53E has a crew of 5, including 2 pilots and 3 machine gun shooters, and can carry 37 or 55 soldiers depending on the seat arrangement. During transportation, it carries 14.5 tons of goods in the hold or more than 16 tons suspended outside.
The production cost of a CH-53E in the early 1990s was about 24.4 million USD, equivalent to 55.8 million USD at current prices, excluding maintenance and upgrade costs. With the large payload capacity and an important role in the marine Corps, this fire caused many concerns about the technical condition of the helicopter line that has served for more than 40 years.
