TH-67 crash

[CD512]

We had a TH-67 go down in Ft. Rucker today. 1 pilot is confirmed dead and the other was taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries. There are no further details as of now.

Edited June 23, 2009 by cdavis832

[Wolf424]

The 2nd guy is pretty damn lucky.

[Guest SATCOM]

Blue Skies and prayers out to the family....

[Guest Hueypilot812]

Was it an IFR bird or a VFR version? I soloed in N67001 (01C) back in 1996...sucks that a class lost someone. Was it a student that died or the IP? I was in 96-17 when we lost the Huey at Tac X and killed all 3 on board in 1997. It shook up the class pretty good, and it took about 2-3 weeks before we started flying again.

My thoughts are with the families involved.

[KWings06j]

Last I head the instructor was confirmed dead on scene. The student was medivac'd to the hospital and should be fine. I'll see if they say anything more when I go in later.

[CD512]

I have not heard anything as to who was killed. It was a VFR bird, they were at high bluff stage fields, which is one of the primary training stage fields. I have a included a link to a local article.

TH-67 crash

[KWings06j]

Published: June 23, 2009

The man who died Monday in the Fort Rucker helicopter crash near Hartford on Monday is 55-year-old James Frederick Elliott, the Dothan Eagle has learned.

Max Motley, the Geneva County coroner, told the Eagle that Elliott of Geneva, initially appears to have died from injuries he suffered in the crash. Motley said an autopsy will still be performed. Motley said Elliott was a civilian instructor pilot who was apparently working with a student at the time of the crash Monday afternoon.

“I’ve been to some privately owned airplane crashes as coroner, but this is the first military aircraft I’ve dealt with. It’s the first helicopter crash I’ve worked as coroner,” Motley said. “It looked like it was made of an aluminum beer can because it was so crumpled up.”

Authorities are trying to determine what caused the Army training helicopter to crash in the middle of a field. According to Fort Rucker officials, the crash happened around 3:30 p.m. near Highfalls and High Bluff stage fields near Hartford. Another pilot on board was taken by medevac helicopter to a local hospital with injuries not believed to be life threatening.

The TH-67 is used for the initial entry training for new helicopter pilots. All Army helicopter pilots complete training at Fort Rucker.

The helicopter fatality is the first at Fort Rucker since 2007, when instructor pilot John Bolling died of injuries sustained in a UH-60 Black Hawk accident near Opp. Three crew members escaped with minor injuries.

Source

[OverTQ]

Any hear what caused the crash?

[Guest TXPoloPolo]

Is there any official word from the Army on last month's crash? I saw where there was another crash landing involving a student pilot and IP last week (7/21) ZWire News Story, but there aren't enough published details to draw any inferences to connect the two incidents.