Two troopers have been hospitalized with minor accidents after their AH-64 Apache helicopter went down Wednesday night throughout a routine coaching train out of Fort Carson, Colorado, base officers confirmed Thursday.
The crash is the second in simply 48 hours involving an Army Apache; the airframe has seen a number of different incidents during the last 12 months that injured or killed service members.
Within the incident at Fort Carson, a single Apache from the 4th Fight Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, crashed at about 6:30 p.m. native time throughout an train in a southern coaching space, in response to an announcement from the bottom. The injured troopers have been taken to Evans Army Group Hospital on the bottom after emergency personnel responded to the crash “inside minutes,” they usually have been handled and launched the identical evening, the assertion added.
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“We’re grateful our troopers are protected, and the unit is making certain the crew, their households and buddies are receiving all doable care and assist throughout this time,” the emailed assertion stated. “An investigative staff from the Army Fight Readiness Middle at Fort Novosel, Alabama, will examine the incident. The command has briefly grounded all aviation property on Fort Carson till additional discover.”
The Fort Carson crash comes on the heels of an Apache crash at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state on Monday. Like Wednesday evening’s incident, Monday’s crash occurred throughout what base officers described as routine coaching and injured two troopers, who have been taken to the hospital.
The 2 Apache crashes this week comply with two different incidents involving the plane in February, together with one deadly crash, that prompted the Army Nationwide Guard to briefly floor all of its helicopters.
First, on Feb. 12, two Utah Nationwide Guardsmen suffered minor accidents when their Apache went down close to Salt Lake Metropolis. Then, on Feb. 23, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bryan Andrew Zemek, 36, and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Derek Joshua Abbott, 42, have been killed when their Apache crashed in northern Mississippi.
Whereas three of the 4 most up-to-date incidents weren’t deadly, it’s a rarity to outlive helicopter crashes.
And whereas the Apache is within the highlight with this week’s crashes, the army has grappled with an array of rotary-wing plane mishaps. In November, 5 troopers have been killed when their MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, and 9 troops have been killed in March 2023 in a crash involving two Black Hawks out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The Kentucky crash was one of many deadliest coaching incidents within the Army’s historical past and prompted the service to briefly floor all of its plane.
In the meantime, the Army Nationwide Guard particularly has struggled with a excessive variety of incidents. At the very least 28 Guardsmen have been killed in helicopter accidents from 2012 to 2021, in response to an April 2023 report from the Authorities Accountability Workplace. Throughout the identical interval, the Army and Air Nationwide Guard reported a complete of 298 helicopter accidents throughout non-combat flight operations.
The GAO cited difficulties with upkeep and making certain pilots meet their flight-hour targets as probably contributing components within the helicopter crashes within the Guard, the place the items are largely manned by part-time troops.
Associated: 2 Army Apache Helicopter Pilots Injured However Secure After Coaching Crash at Joint Base Lewis-McChord
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