An Army AH-64 Apache crash at Fort Riley, Kansas, on Tuesday left two pilots injured, marking one more aviation incident in a string of crashes for the service.
The pair of troopers with the first Infantry Division’s Fight Aviation Brigade had been being handled for accidents after the crash, which occurred throughout gunnery coaching, based on a spokesperson for the set up. It is unclear what precipitated the crash, and officers are investigating the incident.
The Army has been marred by a seemingly fixed string of helicopter incidents, significantly amongst Apache and Black Hawk helicopters. Final yr, the service noticed 10 incidents, together with 14 fatalities — far outpacing deaths occurring in fight operations overseas.
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Army plane have been grounded twice for the reason that spring of final yr — as soon as servicewide after 9 troopers died in April 2023 in a crash that concerned two Black Hawk helicopters out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
That incident marked one of many deadliest coaching mishaps in Army historical past. Later that month, three eleventh Airborne Division troopers died when two Apaches collided.
Final yr’s incidents additionally embody a November crash wherein 5 Army particular operations troopers died in a Black Hawk crash within the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Cyprus.
As frequent as final yr’s crashes had been, incident charges with Army aviation up to now this yr are roughly 3 times that in comparison with final yr, based on information supplied by the service.
The Army Nationwide Guard grounded its plane in February after back-to-back Apache crashes, one in Mississippi the place two troopers died and one other earlier that month in Utah. That crew survived.
In March, two troopers had been injured in an Apache crash at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. Two days later, two extra troopers had been injured in one other Apache crash at Fort Carson, Colorado. Moreover, two New York Guardsmen supporting border safety missions died in southern Texas in a UH-72 Lakota crash, which additionally killed a border patrol agent.
Units had been ordered in early April to go over security procedures and different extra coaching by Friday. Nonetheless, the service has been brief on solutions as to why incidents are on the rise.
The incidents have been partly attributed to pilots flying much less with the winding down of the post-9/11 wars. Since 2012, flight hours throughout the Army’s high three helicopter platforms have dipped dramatically, based on information supplied by the Army.
Flight time with the Apache dropped probably the most — about 50%. Chinook pilots have 36% much less time within the air, and the Black Hawk, the service’s premier workhorse, is flying 25% much less.
Service officers have traditionally been swift to put blame on service members and sluggish to look at tools or coaching doctrine related to security considerations.
“If we’ve recognized points with sure helicopters, we have to know so we are able to useful resource your division in a fashion that protects the lives of our courageous men and women in uniform,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., stated in a letter to Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin final yr.
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