Two U.S. Army helicopters crashed during a nighttime training mission in Kentucky, killing all nine soldiers on board, a general said Thursday. The crash involved variants of the Black Hawk designed for medical evacuation and was the deadliest such incident in more than eight years. The aircraft were flying in formation with pilots using night‑vision goggles during a routine exercise and were steered to land in an open field across from a residential area, avoiding deaths or injuries on the ground, Brigadier General John Lubas told a news conference.
All nine service members aboard the aircraft were members of the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. Five soldiers were on one helicopter and four on the other, and the military is still working to notify the families of those killed. An investigative team from the U.S. Army Aviation headquarters in Alabama is heading to Fort Campbell; it remains unknown whether the two helicopters collided. “We have a safety team coming from Fort Rucker, Alabama who specialize in aircraft safety and specifically these investigations,” Lubas said.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear mourned the lost soldiers and praised the responders. “Freedom relies on those who are willing to serve, some of which pay the ultimate price,” the governor told the news conference. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was “saddened by this tragic loss,” while White House Press Secretary Karine Jean‑Pierre told journalists that “we stand with all who are grieving in the wake of this terrible, truly terrible, accident.”
A local resident who witnessed the crash said, “Two helicopters just disappeared out of the sky. There was a large flash.” He added that another helicopter circled the area for about 30 minutes before ambulances arrived. The last time nine or more people died in a training‑related helicopter incident was on March 10, 2015, when a Louisiana National Guard Black Hawk crashed during a nighttime training mission off the Florida coast, killing 11 people, U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center spokesman Jimmie Cummings told AFP. “Each accident is thoroughly investigated, and lessons learned are applied to improve safety standards and processes,” Cummings said.
There have been multiple other U.S. military aircraft crashes in recent years, including a Black Hawk that killed two Tennessee National Guard members during a training flight in Alabama in February, the loss of four U.S. Marines in a NATO exercise in Norway last year when a V‑22 B Osprey went down, and the 2021 crash of a T‑45C Goshawk jet near Fort Worth, Texas, from which two Navy pilots ejected and were rescued. The 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed the “Screaming Eagles,” is the Army’s only air‑assault division. Activated in August 1942, it gained renown during World War II in the D‑Day landings and the Battle of the Bulge and has seen recent action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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