Chinook in Iraq shot down Nov 2, 2003

I recently read your article referencing the events of Nov 2, 2003 in the shooting down of the Chinook in Iraq. As a member of the unit I was a little discouraged by the fact that not all of your information and references were correct.
The Aircraft was 91-00230, an aircraft from Detachment 1, F 106th AVN in Davenport, IA. The unit's flag is in Peoria, IL; but half of the unit & aircraft are from Davenport, Iowa.

The aircrew flying 230 consisted of 5 soldiers. Those that passed away were:

CW4 Bruce Smith, was the Pilot in Command of the aircraft & was from Det 1 F 106th AVN in Davenport, IA
1LT Brian Slavenas was the Pilot & was from F(-)106th AVN in Peoria, IL

SGT Paul Fisher was one of the Flight Engineers & was from Det 1 106th AVN in Davenport, IA

When we deployed, we all came together to be F Co 106th AVN. A lot of the info gets confused because we are in the company but we're not.

230 was equiped with the ALQ156 automated flare dispensing system, however the flare bucket was a M-130, 1 bucket. When the missile was shot at 230 which was Chalk 1 in a formation of 2, it didnt launch flares. The missile impacted the #2 (right) engine and the aircraft went down, it impacted hard enough that the aircraft crumpled and rolled stopping on the burm of a creek bed. Chalk 2, aircraft 243 did manually launch flares as they performed evasive maneuvers.

The place was 9 nm east of the Al Taqaddum airbase (TQ for short) in Fallujah, Iraq. The aircraft was flying from Al Asad air base in western Iraq to Ramadi, to TQ, to St. Mere, to Baghdad Internation Airport (BIAP) to drop off soldiers going home on leave. The incident happened on the way from TQ to St. Mere.

After the incident the army updated the National Guard aircraft with a new flare dispensing system called the ALE 47 which had 2 buckets on each side. It still relied on the ALQ 156 to detect the incoming threat. At no time has it ever been referenced as Angel Fire. The picture you show of the C-130 is the only time anyone has ever called launching flares angelfire because it looks like an angel when launched from that aircraft.

I hope that you will update the info, its great to see the story out there, however correct information would be best.

Sincerely,
Jason Rassi, CW3, AV - B 2-238th GSAB (formerly F(-)106th AVN), Peoria, IL

Thousands of soldiers will pass through DFW and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport through December. They were selected as the only two airports for the flights because of their size and central locations.

I was a member of F 106 in Iraq when this happened, what is the question?

It looks like Mr. Rassi answered your questions

My unit responded to the incident.
I know exactly what went down.

What happened ?