The incident is the second serious mishap employing Apache gunships in the northern US state this year.
Pentagon sources reported that after a training operation, two US Army AH-64 Apache helicopters crashed in Alaska, carrying two soldiers each. The reason of the occurrence is the subject of an investigation that has been opened.
According to the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division, the helicopters came down Thursday close to the hamlet of Healy in central Alaska, roughly 80 miles southwest of their base at Fort Wainwright.
First responders have arrived at the location. According to a tweet from the division, the incident is still being investigated, and further details will be provided as they become available.
Four persons were aboard the aircraft, according to a later statement from a military spokesperson, John Pennell, who made no mention of their condition or any injuries. A pilot and a gunner are the standard crew members of the AH-64 gunship.
It’s not the first time an Apache has been involved in an accident this year; in February, another helicopter crash in Alaska also included two troops from the Army’s 25th Attack Battalion. The military claimed it had not yet established whether the helicopter could be recovered at the time of the accident, which happened as the aircraft was preparing to take off.
Nine troops died in a more serious accident last month near Fort Campbell in Kentucky after two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed in midair while on what authorities described as a “routine training mission.” Allegedly employing night vision and flying in a two-helicopter formation, the soldiers, who were all members of the 101st Airborne Division, crashed. Flight recorders from the aircraft were retrieved and submitted for additional analysis by military experts earlier this month. The accident’s cause is still being investigated.
