Black Hawk clips tree, lands safely

A Nevada Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopter landed safely Thursday in a remote area of Northern Nevada after its rotor blade clipped a tree during a high-altitude training mission near Hobart Reservoir, a Guard spokesman said.

None of the four soldiers on board the UH-60 Black Hawk was injured, said the spokesman, Sgt. 1st Class Erick Studenicka.

"It's in a real remote, real inaccessible area," he said, noting that the soldiers were conducting a high-altitude training exercise in preparation for potential deployment to Afghanistan.

Studenicka said the Black Hawk, with a damaged rotor blade, landed at 7,700 feet elevation near Hobart Reservoir in a valley between Lake Tahoe and Washoe Lake inside Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park.

Guard officials went to the scene Thursday to determine whether the helicopter could be flown back to the Guard's aviation facility in Reno. If not, a Chinook helicopter will be flown in to lift the Black Hawk in a sling to transport it back to Reno.

An Army team was investigating the incident.