WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army stated on Friday that it was grounding all Army flights besides these wanted for crucial missions till aviation squadrons full required coaching after two lethal helicopter crashes in a month.
“The safety of our aviators is our top priority, and this stand-down is an important step to make certain we are doing everything possible to prevent accidents and protect our personnel,” Gen. James C. McConville, the Army’s chief of workers, stated in a press release. “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.”
The coaching will give attention to subjects together with threat mitigation, upkeep and flight planning, the Army stated in a press release. Units can resume flights after finishing the daylong coaching, which might start as early as Monday. Active-duty items are required to finish the coaching by May 5, and Army National Guard and Reserve items can have till May 31.
The grounding of flights follows the deaths of 12 troopers in two separate midair collisions throughout coaching missions. Both incidents stay underneath investigation, and there’s no indication of any sample between the 2 mishaps, the Army stated in its assertion.
In the primary incident, on March 29, two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters assigned to the a hundred and first Airborne Division collided and crashed at Fort Campbell, Ky. Nine troopers have been killed — 4 in a single helicopter and 5 within the different. There have been no survivors.
On Thursday, two AH-64 Apache helicopters in Alaska assigned to the eleventh Airborne Division additionally collided in-flight and crashed. Three crew members have been killed, and a fourth was wounded.
Stand-downs are widespread in navy aviation after two or extra mishaps inside a brief interval.
In 2022, the U.S. Navy ordered the same daylong pause in nonessential flights following three crashes inside seven days that resulted in six deaths.
Source: www.nytimes.com