A US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter flies over Pristina, Kosovo, during an Independence Day celebration in June 2026. A similar flyover may have led to disaster in Washington yesterday, after a premature fireworks display appeared to strike another Black Hawk. (US Army/Capt. Balinda O’Neal)
A US Army Helicopter Had a Close Call with Fireworks in Seattle
Video footage of last night’s flyover of Lumen Field showed fireworks appearing to hit a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, though it was not damaged.
There was nearly a “Black Hawk Down” moment on Monday evening, but it wasn’t in a hostile war zone. Instead, four United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the 2-158th Assault Helicopter Battalion conducted a flyover of Lumen Field in Seattle just before kickoff between the Seattle Seahawks and Chicago Bears.
The first three aircraft passed safely over the stadium, but fireworks appeared to detonate near one of the helicopters, possibly even striking it.
Videos shared on Facebook offered additional views of the incident, which drew gasps and alarm from the crowd. However, there were no reported injuries or any damage reported on the UH-60.
It is unclear how many people were in attendance at Monday’s game, in which the visiting Chicago Bears defeated the hometown Seahawks 34-17, but Lumen Field has a standard seating capacity of 68,740 for NFL games, expandable to 72,000.
About the UH-60 Black Hawk
- Year Introduced: 1979
- Number Built: ~5,000+ (all variants)
- Length: 64 ft 10 in (19.8 m), including rotor
- Rotor Diameter: 53 ft 8 in (16.36 m)
- Weight (MTOW): ~22,000 lb (9,980 kg)
- Engines: Two General Electric T700-GE-701C/D turboshaft engines
- Top Speed: 183 mph (294 km/h)
- Range: 370 mi (590 km)
- Service Ceiling: 19.000 ft (5,800 m)
- Loadout: Two side guns (depending on variant); four hardpoints on stub wings; can carry rockets, air-to-ground, or air-to-air missiles
- Aircrew: Four (two pilots, two crew chiefs/gunners) in most configurations
The Black Hawk Is Tough, Not Unstoppable
Sikorsky developed the UH-60 as a true “military-grade” combat helicopter with a rugged aluminum alloy fuselage and ballistic protection for the crew. It features redundant flight-control and fuel systems that were designed to withstand heavy ground fire and shrapnel, and even direct hits from small-arms fire.
Standard stadium fireworks are made of paper, cardboard, and light chemical charges rather than anything resembling heavy-armor-piercing warheads, so it is very unlikely that the helicopter was in any serious danger. Even so, there was still danger that the fireworks could have hit the cockpit windshield—or worse, could have been ingested into the turbine engines, which might have resulted in a compressor stall or power loss. There was also a minor risk of damage to the tail rotor.
There have been at least five major US Army helicopter crashes this calendar year, including another MH-60 Black Hawk that experienced an “unplanned landing” during a training flight in a wooded area north of Golden Gate Canyon State Park, west of Denver, Colorado, in August.
All four crewmembers aboard that helicopter survived, but it followed a deadly crash of an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter in Soldado, Texas, near Fort Hood, in which two Army aviators were killed weeks earlier.
A Number of Military Aircraft Have Had Close Calls This Year
This past summer, a US Navy Blue Angels F/A-18 Super Hornet conducted a flyover of Pensacola, Beach, Florida, at unusually low altitude—noted for blowing over beach chairs and umbrellas. The pilot later acknowledged that he had made a mistake, although the Navy did not investigate or attempt to punish the incident. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth seemed to enjoy the display, writing in a post on X, “The flyovers will continue until morale improves.” That drew mixed reactions, with supporters viewing it as a bold defense of military pride, whereas critics, including safety analysts, saw it as supporting unsafe spectacles.
The flyover on Monday evening came less than a week after last Thursday’s low pass of Air Force One over downtown Washington, DC, during a Halloween party at the White House. The unannounced flyover at low altitude led to criticism from some local officials, who noted it had disrupted air traffic and frightened some residents. Twenty-five years earlier on September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda hijackers flew a plane at a similar altitude into the Pentagon in northern Virginia, killing 184 people.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. He has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines, and websites over a 30-year career in journalism, including Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author at Editor@nationalinterest.org.
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