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[–] poopbutt 0 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago  (edited ago)

That seems a bit odd. It looks like the helicopter is sitting steadily on the ground for a good while before the explosion happens, so it's probably not the helicopter itself triggering the landmine. Instead, it appears that one of the soldiers exiting the helicopter (specifically the third soldier exiting at the top) might be triggering a landmine upon disembarking, the strength of the explosion (ripping the entire helicopter apart) seems way too intense for your typical anti-personnel landmine, and anti-vehicle mines are not usually triggered by a person stepping on it.

What's happening here? Home-made (drug cartels, and all) landmine that is triggered by a person with a much higher yield than usual (comparable to that of a typical anti-vehicle mine)? Something else entirely causing the explosion (incoming RPG? (seems unlikely) something on board the helicopter itself detonating)?

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[–] MysteryMeat 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

I'm way out of my league here but I thought landmines were just powerful enough to rip a limb off and scatter shrapnel.

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[–] poopbutt 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

There are many different kinds of landmines with different effects.

Generally speaking, there are two large groups, anti-personnel and anti-vehicle / anti-tank mines. Anti-personnel mines can be triggered by a person stepping on the mine and they either have, as you say, just enough blast to rip off a leg or two (blast mines) or spread shrapnel (frag mines). Either way, nowhere near enough power to rip a helicopter apart like in that video.

Anti-vehicle or anti-tank mines typically have a much bigger explosive yield, especially the older ones (WW2, cold war era, etc.), but they can't typically be triggered by a person stepping on it.

Which is why the footage seems so odd to me. It looks like the third guy stepping out of the helicopter on the left side (top of the video) might be triggering a mine, but the explosion is way too big for an anti-personnel mine.

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[–] Astromachine ago 

I wonder if it was a remote detonated IED. The spot where they are landing looks to be a natural clearing, or maybe even a prepared spot. They land, you wait for them to exit so they're the most exposed, and trigger it. If you're in the dense jungle it shouldn't be too hard to figure out where the most likely places a helicopter could land.

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[–] poopbutt ago 

Yes that seems quite possible actually. I can't really say how viable it would be to find possible helicopter landing zones and rig them beforehand in that area, but if, say, the spot is pretty remarkable and has been known to be used as an LZ before, it seems plausible that someone could figure out to plant an IED there eventually.

The explosion itself (both in visual appearance and destruction) certainly looks a lot like a buried IED.

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[–] ArtEnt [S] ago 

I agree. Not sure how or what exactly happened, just going by what I read :)

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[–] poopbutt 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago  (edited ago)

No that's cool, wasn't supposed to be a jab at you, just genuinely wondering what's going on there.

It's fascinating footage either way though, that's for sure!