West News Wire: Following a training mission, two US Army AH-64 Apache helicopters crashed in Alaska, according to Pentagon sources, who noted that each chopper was carrying two personnel. To ascertain the reason for the occurrence, an investigation has been opened.
According to the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division, the helicopters came down on Thursday in central Alaska close to the town of Healy, roughly 80 miles southwest of their base at Fort Wainwright.
First aid personnel have arrived. The incident is being investigated, and the division tweeted that it will provide more details as they become available.
Military spokesman John Pennell later added that a total of four people were on board the aircraft, though he offered no details about their status or whether there were injuries. The AH-64 gunship typically carries a crew of two a pilot and a gunner.
This is not the only incident involving an Apache this year; in February, a second helicopter crash also in Alaska injured two troops from the Army’s 25th Attack Battalion. The military stated that at the time of the accident, it had not been established if the helicopter could be salvaged. The accident happened as the aircraft was taking off.
Nine soldiers also lost their lives in a more serious accident last month near Fort Campbell in Kentucky when two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed in midair while on what authorities described as a “routine training mission.” The soldiers, who were all members of the 101st Airborne Division, are reported to have crashed while employing night vision and flying in a formation of two helicopters. The cause of the accident is still under investigation, with flight recorders recovered from the aircraft and sent for further analysis by military specialists earlier this month.
