U.S. Army suspends Apache training flights after fatal Texas crash
The Army has temporarily halted Apache helicopter training flights following a crash near Fort Hood that killed two soldiers, pending investigation into the cause.
The U.S. Army announced Friday that it will pause Apache helicopter training flights until investigators determine the cause of a crash that killed two soldiers near Fort Hood, Texas. The AH-64 Apache went down Wednesday in a field in Salado, Texas, killing Chief Warrant Officer 2 Deontre T. Huey, 34, and Warrant Officer Seth L. Olmsted, 25, both of Texas. > "You could tell this was a violent crash," Bell County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Bill Coleman said, noting the aircraft did not strike any structures but ignited a wildfire. The Army said the stand-down will remain in effect while it seeks a better understanding of the accident’s root cause. The service expressed condolences to the families and unit of the deceased aviators. The Apache, built by Boeing since the late 1990s, is a twin-engine attack helicopter equipped with a rapid-fire gun and Hellfire missiles.