The Colorado crash comes on the heels of an incident at Joint Base-Lewis McChord, Wash., on Monday, when an Apache from the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade had what officials called an “aviation mishap” during routine training.
Last month, the Army National Guard grounded its helicopter fleet to review safety policies and procedures in the wake of crashes of AH-64D Apache helicopters Feb. 12 in Utah and Feb. 23 in Mississippi. Two aviators were killed in the crash near Booneville, Miss.
A 2020 Army safety review highlighted the Apache helicopter’s involvement in more than a quarter of the service’s rotary-wing mishaps from 2016 to 2020, pointing to human error as a primary cause.
Last month, the Army National Guard grounded its helicopter fleet to review safety policies and procedures in the wake of crashes of AH-64D Apache helicopters Feb. 12 in Utah and Feb. 23 in Mississippi. Two aviators were killed in the crash near Booneville, Miss.
A 2020 Army safety review highlighted the Apache helicopter’s involvement in more than a quarter of the service’s rotary-wing mishaps from 2016 to 2020, pointing to human error as a primary cause.
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An Army AH-64 Apache crash at Fort Carson, Colorado, on Wednesday sent two crew members to the hospital, causing a temporary aviation pause at the installation and marking the second time within three days the service experienced an Apache helicopter mishap.
The pair of service members were transported to Evans Army Community Hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries and released later that night, Fort Carson officials told Military Times.
Investigators will look into the cause of the incident, which occurred around 6:30 p.m. when the helicopter, assigned to 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, experienced a mishap during a routine training exercise, the officials said.
- “The command has temporarily grounded all aviation assets on Fort Carson until further notice,” the officials added in their statement.
- The incident in Colorado comes just days after another Apache mishap, and marks the fourth to occur in the last two months.
On Monday night, an Army AH-64E Apache helicopter accident in Washington state sent two crew members to the hospital. That followed a pair of AH-64D Apache helicopter crashes last month, which led the Army National Guard to order a component-wide pause on flight missions.
- Earlier this month, a UH-72 Lakota helicopter flying over the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas crashed, killing a Border Patrol agent and two National Guard soldiers and injuring another soldier.
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