Horror as £30m SAS helicopter crashes moments before flight to Cyprus after major failure

A Chinook chopper pictured astatine this year's Farnborough Airshow (Image: Getty)

A subject chopper crashed conscionable aft it took off, seemingly arsenic a effect of motor failure.

The SAS Chinook was scheduled to alert to Cyprus until its turbo motor exploded, leaving fume billowing from the aircraft.

The Chinook had been hovering supra RAF Odiham successful Hampshire - the location of the Special Forces formation - connected Friday, acceptable for 2 others to articulation it successful enactment anterior to the voyage.

The pilots were capable to swerve distant from the runway earlier smashing into a grassy verge beside it and avoiding a collision with the different Chinooks.

The craft - worthy £30million - was severely damaged but thankfully determination were nary injuries, reports The Sun.

Chinook helicopters tin transportation up to 55 unit (Image: RAF)

One insider admitted: “This could person led to a nonaccomplishment of craft and life.”

The origin of the clang is inactive being investigated – but different craft person not been taken retired of service.

SAS troops successful Cyprus are preparing to rescue Brits presently trapped successful Lebanon.

An RAF spokesperson said: “A Chinook suffered motor nonaccomplishment and is successful for repair.

“There is nary interaction to the remainder of the fleet.”

Beirut, Lebanon's capital, is presently being bombarded by Israel (Image: Getty)

The RAF's Chinook chopper is simply a versatile and almighty heavy-lift aircraft, playing a captious relation successful British subject operations since its instauration successful the aboriginal 1980s.

Known for its duplicate rotors, which supply superior lifting capacity, the Chinook is susceptible of transporting troops, vehicles, and cargo successful immoderate of the astir challenging environments.

Its robust plan allows it to run successful utmost upwind conditions and implicit divers terrains, from the mountains of Afghanistan to the rainforests of Sierra Leone.

The Chinook's quality to execute aggregate roles, including aesculapian evacuation, catastrophe relief, and frontline combat support, has made it a cornerstone of the RAF's transport fleet.

With a maximum velocity of astir 170 knots and a scope of implicit 400 nautical miles, the Chinook offers the RAF exceptional mobility and flexibility successful some home and planetary missions.

The craft has undergone respective upgrades implicit the years, with modern variants specified arsenic the HC6A featuring precocious avionics and improved antiaircraft systems.

This enables the Chinook to support relevance successful modern warfare, adapting to caller threats and operational requirements.

Whether utilized for humanitarian assistance oregon subject logistics, the Chinook is mostly seen arsenic a awesome of reliability and spot wrong the RAF, susceptible of executing analyzable missions crossed the globe.