 | Hard landing site | Gold Camp Road and Forest Service Road 376 |
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Apache pilots injured in hard landing near Pikes Peak
Two Army helicopter pilots were injured early Wednesday when their Apache Longbow went down in the foothills west of Colorado Springs during a night-time training exercise.
The pilots – from the 10th Mountain Division of Fort Drum, N.Y. – suffered non-life threatening injuries in what Fort Carson spokeswoman Brandy Gill characterized as a “hard landing.”
Gill did not identify the soldiers, and no further information about their injuries was released.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
According to Fort Carson, the Apache crew was conducting high-altitude training when the gunship went down south of Pikes Peak about 1:30 a.m. The Teller County Sheriff’s Office said the crash occurred near Gold Camp Road and Forest Service Road 376.
High-altitude flying involves a mix of hazards including shifting winds, dangerous terrain and low air-density, which affects helicopters' power and maneuverability. Fort Carson is a destination for Army aviation units seeking to hone their skills before deploying to mountainous Afghanistan.
The 1,500 pilots and crew members in the 10th Mountain Division’s 10th Combat Aviation Brigade began training here in early May and are scheduled to finish by mid-July. The unit is set to deploy this fall.
The unit commander, Col. Pedro Almeida, said earlier this month that the Front Range offers training opportunities unavailable at Fort Drum.
"We need to put them in realistic conditions, demanding conditions, that push the envelope," Almeida told The Gazette before a training exercise that involved precarious mountain landings.The training included a pilot instructor and began with a 10-day period of individual training before pilots “stair stepped” to bigger challenges.
Fort Carson did not disclose the extent of the damage to the helicopter, and a Fort Drum spokeswoman did not return a phone call requesting more information.
This was the first accident reported since the training began.
Four soldiers in a Black Hawk helicopter were killed last August when a training exercise when awry on the slopes of the 14,421-foot Mount Massive near Leadville.
The helicopter was from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Ky. The Army blamed pilot error.
Reporter Jakob Rodgers contributed to this story.
