US Army suspends Apache helicopter training after deadly crash

The US Army has temporarily suspended all Apache helicopter training missions following a deadly crash at Fort Hood in Texas that killed two soldiers.

The Army said the suspension will remain in place while investigators work to determine what caused the crash.

“The stand-down will remain in effect until we have a better understanding of the root cause of the accident,” the US Army said in a statement on Friday.

The crash happened on Wednesday. Investigators from the US Army Combat Readiness Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama, are examining the incident, but the Army has not yet released a possible cause.

Bell County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson William Coleman described the crash as severe, saying, “You could tell this was a violent crash.” He said the helicopter did not hit any buildings but caused a wildfire.

Temporary aviation stand-downs are common after serious military accidents. The Army took a similar step three years ago after 12 soldiers were killed in separate aviation crashes in Alaska and Kentucky.

The latest incident comes as the US Army faces increased scrutiny over aviation safety. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) previously criticized the Army’s safety practices during its investigation into a January 2025 collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger plane near Washington, DC. The crash killed 67 people.

The NTSB found that the Army had not properly identified safety risks in the busy airspace around the US capital.

Fort Hood is one of the major US military installations and covers about 215,000 acres. It has also experienced fatal training accidents in the past, including a 2015 Black Hawk crash that killed four soldiers.

The AH-64 Apache has been an important part of US Army aviation since the first aircraft was delivered in 1984. More than 5,000 Apaches have been operated by the US military and its allies over the years.