US military chopper makes emergency landing in Austria

VIENNA – Austrian defence officials say a U.S. military Blackhawk helicopter with seven people on board had to make an emergency landing west of Vienna after it flew too low during a storm and scraped against tree branches.

Austrian Col. Michael Bauer says the chopper was to be repaired Friday by U.S. technicians, a day after landing in a field. Nobody was injured.

Bauer says the Blackhawk was returning to Germany from NATO exercises in Hungary when the crew asked Austrian authorities for permission to land after the branches damaged the cockpit and the tail.