West News Wire: After two devastating helicopter crashes within a matter of weeks that resulted in numerous fatalities, the chief of staff of the US Army has suspended all army flights and pilots who are not engaged in important tasks until aviation squadrons have completed the necessary training.
Twelve troops lost their lives in two separate midair collisions while on training missions, leading to the grounding of the pilots and planes.
Three troops were killed and a fourth was hurt after two Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters collided in Alaska on Thursday.
Earlier, two Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed in Kentucky late last month, killing nine people and leaving no survivors four in one and five in the other.
Our primary priority is the safety of our aviators, and this stand-down is a crucial step to ensure that we are doing everything possible to prevent accidents and protect our personnel,” General James McConville, the Army’s chief of staff, said in a statement on Friday.
“During this stand-down, we will focus on safety and training protocols to ensure our pilots and crews have the knowledge, training, and awareness to safely complete their assigned mission,” he added in the statement.
For the active-duty units, the training is set to begin as early as Monday and would focus on topics including risk mitigation, maintenance, and flight planning, according to the army statement.
The army national guard and reserve troops will have until May 31 to finish their training after the active-duty forces have until May 5 to do so.
The day’s training is over, and the units can start flying again.
Despite its cutting-edge military R&D and sizable military budget, which is set at $1.98 trillion for the fiscal year 2023, the US military has experienced numerous crashes of military aircraft in recent years.
One of the major occurrences from the previous year occurred when a V-22B Osprey carrying four US Marines went down in Norway during NATO training.
