BEIARN (Dagbladet): – It is a very narrow and steep valley. There is a lot of rock and simply a steep rugged terrain where it is difficult to get around.
This is how 67-year-old Håkon Høyås describes the area in Gråtådalen there the American Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey plane crashed on Friday.
Høyås is well known in the area and has made many trips in the valley where the casualty is now located. He claims that the valley has been used for military training a number of times before.
– The area has been widely used by the military to train at low flying. In some places you can see the planes below you. They have come under us through the valley, before rising again with a crash where we stand now.
American NATO aircraft have crashed in Nordland
Lieutenant Colonel and communications chief in the Air Force, Stine Barclay Gaasland, confirms to Dagbladet that the defense has been used for training before.
– The Armed Forces uses the area in and around Gråtådalen for training, including low-flying fighter jets. This is also a well-known training area for our rescue helicopters.
ON SITE: On Sunday evening, this rescue helicopter was used to transport crew out of the area where the casualty is. Photo: Stian Drake / Dagbladet
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Shipped out
Beiarværingen does not want to say much about the incident itself on Friday.
– I have several times seen a lot of strange flying here, but as I said, it is an area that they practice in. At the same time, we do not know what has happened yet, it may have been technical errors. I do not know what the cause is.
WELL KNOWN: Håkon Høyås lives in Beiarn and has spent new time in Gråtådalen. Photo: Stian Drake / Dagbladet
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On Sunday evening, the task force leader in the police, Kristian Karlsen, was able to tell that the four soldiers who died in the plane crash had been transported out. They were flown by helicopter to Bodø.
Accident inspector at the Accident Investigation Board, Mats Torbjørnsson, was able to confirm at the same time that they had found the black box for the aircraft.
The so-called black boxes, which are actually orange and consist of a tachograph and voice recorder, collect information about the aircraft’s speed and altitude, as well as conversations between the crew. They can thus provide information about what happened in the minutes before the accident.
GRÅTÅDALEN: Gråtådalen extends inwards here, and around the mountain to the left in the photo: Photo: Magnus Paus / Dagbladet
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Uses snowshoes or skis
The work at the accident site has now been completed for the evening. To enter the site, the crews must first drive a snowmobile for half an hour, before continuing on foot on skis or snowshoes. Helicopters are also used in the area after the weather improved.
– It is about about one kilometer to walk. They have to use snowshoes or skis and it is extremely demanding.
Four Americans confirmed dead
STEEP: This is what it looks like in the terrain where the accident is said to have happened in the summer. Photo: Private
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Strong weather change
According to Høyås, the weather was good in Beiarn on Friday morning. It was only in the evening that it blew up.
– The weather changed quite between 18 and 19. Then it blew up and the weather got much worse during the evening and night
Although the dead have now been retrieved, much work remains on site.
It has not yet been clarified who will lead this investigation, but US authorities have signaled that they want to lead the work further.
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