Dramatic moment U.S. soldier FALLS from giant Chinook helicopter and is left hanging on by his fingertips… but says he still sits on the ramp despite the terrifying accident
- A viral video caught the moment US military flight engineer Shane Sutton fell from the back of an aircraft
- The soldier was seen casually hanging his legs out the back of an aircraft hanger before the plane dramatically hits a bump
- Thankfully Sutton, who says he flew over 700 hours inside Chinook helicopters, was ‘strapped in’ and walked away from the accident with ‘just some bruises’
Dramatic footage captured the moment a US soldier was left hanging onto a Chinook helicopter by his fingertips after hitting turbulence while hanging his legs off the back of the aircraft.
In a widely circulated video, flight engineer Shane Sutton, 26, is seen casually sitting on the edge of the ramp before the helicopter, which was travelling over the desert floor, dramatically hit a ‘wind pocket coming off the mountains’.
Sutton told DailyMail.com the accident occurred in the training area in Fort Bliss, Texas, which led military higher ups to order the servicemen to ‘change policies’ about sitting on the powerful helicopter’s ramps.
Thankfully, the soldier was ‘strapped in’ when he plummeted from the aircraft, and he admitted he only suffered bruising which left him ‘super sore for a few days’.
An outlandish video posted to Instagram saw US Army flight engineer Shane Sutton fly out the back of an aircraft after hanging his legs off the ramp
After hitting a bump as the aircraft travelled along the desert floor, Sutton is seen hitting his head before dramatically falling from the back of the plane
A post shared by @combat_learjet
The viral footage, which was first shared in 2021 before being widely circulated in following years, saw Sutton initially hanging his feet out the back of the $39 million Chinook helicopter.
After the 4,700 horsepower aircraft hits turbulence, Sutton was sent flying, and hit his head on the roof of the helicopter’s hanger.
He is then seen dramatically falling from the back and towards the desert floor, while his fellow soldiers watch on in shock.
The 26-year-old has posted several images to his social media showing him dangerously hanging out the back of aircrafts.
While admitting that the video didn’t fly under the radar and was seen by ‘some pretty high up people’ in the military, he said it didn’t land him in hot water.
‘They let my leadership handle the situation’, he added, as the military hierarchy ‘had us change our policies’.
While before soldiers were able to sit on the ramps ‘freely’, Sutton said the accident meant they were instead only able to do so ‘if the mission dictates, such as too much cargo inside (the Chinook)’.
Despite the embarrassing incident, Sutton, who served on the 501st Combat Aviation Brigade, insisted the accident didn’t stop him from dangling his legs off again.
‘I still sit on the ramp a lot,’ he added.
Sutton has posted numerous images from his army days online showing him inside the military aircrafts
The flight engineer admitted the in-flight fiasco earned him several nicknames, including ‘Slingload Sutton’ and ‘Sky Surfer’
Sutton, from El Paso, Texas, admitted that ‘everyone makes fun’ of him for the video, which was captured in the training area in Fort Bliss
Sutton, from El Paso, Texas, served on one rotation into Europe, before he was sent on a tour to the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, which he said on his Instagram was a ‘good deployment with lots of amazing memories’.
And according to his social media, Sutton has spent over 700 hours flying in Chinook helicopters, including in Alaska, Afghanistan and Texas.
Noting his widely-seen blunder, he shared online that it made his year one to remember, after ‘falling out of a helicopter and going viral’.
‘Everybody makes fun of me for it,’ he added. ‘But it’s great, all of my friends always send me the video’.
He added that he earned several nicknames after the fiasco, including ‘Slingload Sutton’ and ‘Sky Surfer’.
Sutton served on one rotation into Europe, before he was sent on a tour to the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan
The engineer has spent over 700 hours flying in Chinook helicopters, including in Alaska, Afghanistan and Texas
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