The US Military quickly halted all Apache helicopter coaching missions Friday after a deadly crash in Texas earlier this week killed two troopers.
No reason for the Wednesday crash has been launched as a result of the investigation has simply begun. A security investigation workforce from the Military Fight Readiness Middle in Fort Rucker, Alabama, is making an attempt to find out what occurred, the Military mentioned.
“The stand-down will stay in impact till we now have a greater understanding of the foundation reason for the accident,” the Military mentioned in its assertion Friday.
The army has taken comparable motion after previous crashes. Three years in the past, the Military grounded all aviation items till they accomplished some extra coaching after 12 troopers died in separate crashes in Alaska and Kentucky.
The Military made no point out of stopping the fight missions that Apache helicopters are commonly flying within the struggle in Iran.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Deontre T. Huey, 34, of Killeen, Texas, and Warrant Officer Seth L. Olmstead, 25, of Belton, Texas, have been killed within the Texas crash, the Military mentioned. They have been the one two individuals on board when the helicopter crashed in a grassy subject close to Salado, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Fort Hood.
Huey entered the Military in 2014 and Olmstead entered in 2023. They have been assigned to Bravo Firm, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.
“Our hearts and deepest condolences are with the households of the Troopers we misplaced Wednesday,” mentioned Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral, III Armored Corps and Fort Hood commanding normal. “The Military is a household, and a tragedy like that is felt all through our formations and our group.”
Aviation security professional John Cox mentioned it is encouraging to see the Military take this step as a result of “you are guessing till you get some laborious solutions” and this transfer indicators the Military is making security a precedence.
“I’m very a lot glad to see them doing that. It says that they are being proactive,” mentioned Cox, who’s CEO of Security Working Programs and a longtime pilot.
The Nationwide Transportation Security Board criticized the Military’s security tradition sharply throughout the investigation of final yr’s collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airways jet within the skies close to Washington, D.C. The NTSB mentioned the Military did a poor job recognizing a few of the security dangers within the busy airspace across the nation’s capital earlier than that crash in January 2025 that killed 67 individuals.
Fort Hood is a large base with 214,968 acres (86,995 hectares) that’s used to coach and deploy heavy forces. In November 2015, 4 troopers have been killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed throughout a coaching train. And 9 Fort Hood troopers died in 2016 when a rain-swollen creek swept their automobile into speeding waters.
The Apache assault helicopter has been a core a part of Military aviation because the first one was delivered in 1984. Greater than 5,000 Apaches have been deployed by the U.S. army and its allies over the a long time.
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