The Army on Friday recognized the 9 troopers killed in a crash involving two Black Hawk helicopters Wednesday night in southwestern Kentucky.
The 2 helicopters have been from the a hundred and first Fight Aviation Brigade, a hundred and first Airborne, and have been conducting a routine coaching train flying at evening with the pilots sporting evening imaginative and prescient units. There was no clear indication of inclement climate, primarily based on native climate experiences.
The incident marked one of many worst coaching incidents within the Army’s historical past. It additionally has returned the highlight to incidents with Black Hawk helicopters, the service’s key aviation device for getting troopers out and in of battle, which has been plagued with security considerations for many years.
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“My coronary heart goes out to the households of those service members and to the members of the a hundred and first Airborne Division who bravely and proudly serve our nation every day,” Protection Secretary Llyod Austin mentioned in a press release.
All troopers have been assigned to the a hundred and first Airborne out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
- Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, of Milton, Florida
- Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, of Austin, Texas
- Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36, of Jackson, Missouri
- Sgt. Isaacjohn Gayo, 27, of Los Angeles, California
- Workers Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25, of Morehead Metropolis, North Carolina
- Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32, of Cape Coral, Florida
- Workers Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, of Mountain Brook, Alabama
- Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32, of Rolla, Missouri
- Sgt. David Solinas Jr., 23, of Oradell, New Jersey
At 10 p.m. CT Wednesday, the 2 helicopters crashed right into a discipline not removed from a residential space. It’s unclear what led to the crashes as Army officers are nonetheless investigating. It is the deadliest incident for the a hundred and first Airborne since one other crash involving a pair of Black Hawks in 1988 that killed 17 troopers.
That crash additionally occurred across the similar time of evening and with truthful climate, in response to reporting on the time. Investigators concluded that the crash occurred when one Black Hawk slammed into one other mid-air whereas conducting a routine maneuver.
Black Hawk crashes in coaching make up the overwhelming majority of navy aviation fatalities, during which 5 troopers on common die a yr on common, in response to service information. In February, two Tennessee Nationwide Guard troopers died in a Black Hawk crash in Alabama. In a 2015 incident, seven particular operations Marines and 4 Lousiana Nationwide Guardsmen died when their Black Hawk crashed in Florida throughout nighttime coaching.
The Black Hawk has been in use by the Army since 1979 and has been grounded on a number of events over security considerations. In complete, the plane has been concerned in at the very least 390 crashes and different incidents that resulted in accidents and deaths, the lion’s share in america, in response to information from the Aviation Security Community. The positioning has tracked 970 deaths associated to Black Hawk incidents.
The Army has not grounded the Black Hawk or ordered any additional security measures whereas the investigation into the incident continues.
“At the moment, the Army’s UH-60 fleet stays operational with no plans for a security stand-down. A Security Investigation Group from the U.S. Army Fight Readiness Middle, headquartered at Fort Rucker, Alabama, is main the protection investigation and, primarily based on their findings, the Army will make choices on security and coaching protocols,” Jason Waggoner, a service spokesperson, instructed Army.com in a press release.
— Steve Beynon could be reached at Steve.Beynon@navy.com. Observe him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.
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