Watch three Humvees plummet to the ground in botched airdrop

(Warning: Explicit language)

On Monday, April 11, three military Humvees were destroyed in a botched airdrop at a U.S. Army military base in Germany.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team were dropping 150 items via a flyover when three Humvees plummeted to the ground after their parachutes failed. Nobody was injured and an investigation is ongoing into the cause of the incident.

"The specific malfunctions that occurred on this day are under investigation," Army spokesman Maj. Juan Martinez said in an email to the Army Times. "There were multiple rehearsals and inspections of the equipment prior to mission execution. We cannot speculate on what went wrong until the investigation is complete."

Martinez added that “While (the commanders of the 173rd) are aware of the video, it does not overshadow the hard work of the paratroopers, allies, and partners that took place during Saber Junction 16… (Joint Multinational Training Command) is conducting (an investigation) to identify the person who shot the video. As far as disciplinary actions are concerned, nothing has been decided."

The Tactical Air Network provided additional insight into what could have gone awry:

“To airdrop a Humvee, the vehicles are loaded onto metal pallets, sometimes with the use of a crane. Three G-11B parachutes (with a diameter of 100 ft apiece, and a weight of 275 lbs altogether) are strapped to the Humvees, while honeycombed pads and pieces of lightweight wood are stacked underneath the vehicles to absorb the shock of a normal landing. When in the air, the loadmaster will open the C-130’s rear cargo door when pilots slow down the aircraft to approximately 160 mph, releasing a smaller drogue chute attached to the vehicle pallet. The drag of the drogue chute yanks the Humvee out of the aircraft and into the sky, its G-11Bs deploying soon afterwards for a presumably comfortable float down to Earth.

“Any number of things could’ve gone wrong with this particular airdrop, including improper rigging, or high winds which would have had the effect of disturbing the drop. The latter seems to be least likely, given the descent patterns of other airdropped Humvees in the video. If the Humvee is improperly attached to its pallet, or all chutes fail to deploy (only two seemed to with the first loss), the weight of the vehicle coupled with the jarring motion of being pulled out of an inert position (inside the aircraft) would have rendered the G-11B’s retention abilities null.”