> By the time they were over Abbottabad it was too late to do anything about it.

It could be too late to prevent the strike, but it wouldn't be too late to shot down the surviving choppers.

Of course, in that situation, the F-22s would have protected them.

This brings up another good question. Can a helicopter really fly all across Pakistan and back to an aircraft carrier?

Could they even make it to Afghanistan? I was under the impression that helicopters don't exactly have a whole lot of range

I assumed they returned to Afghanistan and transfered the body to a plane.

They did. Some of the supposed pictures of Osama are from in the hanger at the Afghanistan airfield.

That's also where (as I understand it) they did all the DNA testing and so forth. The final stage in which the body was flown to the aircraft carrier was just for disposal (a decision I think was sensible -- rather than allowing "the body" to become a rallying issue for terrorists it's better just to dump it in the sea before anyone knows you've got it).

Not sure about these modified ones, but a normal Black Hawk can refuel midair.

According to Wikipedia, the standard "ferry range" of the UH-60L Black Hawk is 2,220 km (1,380 miles).