"Bomb" Dropped By Army Chopper Recovered In Miami-Dade
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Miami-Dade Police said an ammunition box that had fallen out of a helicopter was found Friday.
"It was just loud. I guess it was because it was right overhead," Megan Fallman said of the U.S. Army helicopters over her home along the Miami-Dade/Broward line Wednesday night. "They came right overhead."
The Blackhawk helicopters were participating in war games, what the Army called routine, low altitude training. But the routine was broken when one of the choppers dropped a bomb-like ammunitions container overboard in Northwest Miami-Dade.
The silver ammo tin and its contents were recovered Thursday. Miami-Dade police would only say the container and ammunition were retrieved safely somewhere in Northwest Miami-Dade, and that it did not strike anyone's home.
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Some who live in the area bordering the two counties were angry to learn what might have come falling down on them.
"I think they need to be more careful," said Bruce Levine of Pembroke Pines where much of the airborne exercise was conducted. "People's lives are at stake when you make these mistakes and it's very dangerous."
Someone with a cell phone captured images of the helicopters from a distance, circling as if in some kind of combat maneuvers.
"Oh! What the hell?" a stunned woman's voice could be heard saying on the cell phone video.
Army Public Affairs Officer Maj. Allen Hill in Fort Campbell, KY declined to comment on the errant ammunitions canister, or to what extent someone might be held accountable. Allen would only say his unit's mantra is "safety, safety, safety."
Wayne Black, of Wayne Black and Associates, a security and weapons expert, told CBS4 News the container that fell from the Army helicopter would have held a thousand rounds of ammunition and would have weighed about 50 pounds.
"The chopper really had to have been sideways with the ammo not secured for this to happen," Black said in an emailed statement. "Wow."
The wow factor may not be over. The Army said in a news release issued January 26th that the exercises will continue through next Thursday. The public will receive no notice of when and where the war games will be conducted, but the Army's release said "every precaution will be taken to mitigate risks for the safety of all."