Kentucky copter crash kills 9 soldiers

Brig. Gen. John Lubas address the press in regards to the Black Hawk helicopter crash that occurred early Thursday morning outside of Fort Campbell in Christian County, Ky. Video at arkansasonline.com/331lubas/.
(AP/The Tennessean/Liam Kennedy)
Brig. Gen. John Lubas address the press in regards to the Black Hawk helicopter crash that occurred early Thursday morning outside of Fort Campbell in Christian County, Ky. Video at arkansasonline.com/331lubas/. (AP/The Tennessean/Liam Kennedy)

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- U.S. Army investigators are trying to determine what caused two Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters to crash during a routine nightime training exercise in Kentucky, killing all nine soldiers aboard. No one was hurt on the ground.

Nondice Thurman, a spokesperson for Fort Campbell, said the deaths happened Wednesday night in southwestern Kentucky during a routine training mission.

A statement from Fort Campbell said the two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, part of the 101st Airborne Division, crashed around 10 p.m. Wednesday in Trigg County in southwest Kentucky. The 101st Airborne confirmed the crash about 30 miles northwest of Fort Campbell.

One helicopter had five people aboard and the other had four, Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 101st Airborne deputy commander, said Thursday. The helicopters crashed in a field near a residential area with no injuries on the ground, Lubas said.

An Army spokesperson declined to comment on whether the helicopters collided in the air.

"At this time, there is no determination on the specifics regarding the accident," Daniel Matthews, a public affairs officer for the 101st Airborne Division, said in an emailed statement Thursday afternoon. Matthews said an aviation safety team from Fort Rucker, Ala., will investigate the accident.

Lubas said it is unclear what caused the crash.

"This was a training progression, and specifically they were flying a multiship formation, two ships, under night vision goggles at night," Lubas said. He said officials believe the accident occurred when "they were doing flying, not deliberate medical evacuation drills."

The helicopters have devices similar to the black boxes on passenger planes, which record the performance of aircrafts in flight and are used by investigators to analyze crashes.

"We're hopeful that will provide quite a bit of information of what occurred," Lubas said.

Speaking a news conference Thursday morning, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the state would do everything it can to support the families of those killed.

"We're going to do what we always do. We're going to wrap our arms around these families, and we're going to be there with them, not just for the days, but the weeks and the months and the years to come," Beshear said.

The Black Hawk helicopter is a critical workhorse for the Army and is used in security, transport, medical evacuations, search and rescue and other missions. The helicopters are known to many people from the 2001 movie "Black Hawk Down," which is about a violent battle in Somalia eight years earlier.

Fort Campbell is located near the Tennessee border, about 60 miles northwest of Nashville, and the crash occurred in the Trigg County, Kentucky, community of Cadiz.

Nick Tomaszewski, who lives about a mile from where the crash occurred, said he saw two helicopters flying over his house moments before the crash.

"For whatever reason last night my wife and I were sitting there looking out on the back deck and I said 'Wow, those two helicopters look low and they look kind of close to one another tonight,'" he said.

The helicopters flew over and looped back around and moments later "we saw what looked like a firework went off in the sky."

"All of the lights in their helicopter went out. It was like they just poofed ... and then we saw a huge glow like a fireball," Tomaszewski said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin offered his condolences to the families of those killed.

"My heart goes out to the families of these servicemembers and to the members of the 101st Airborne Division who bravely and proudly serve our country each and every day," Austin said in a statement.

In the Kentucky House and in the Senate, members stood for a moment of silence Thursday morning in honor of the crash victims. Kentucky state Rep. Walker Thomas said the crash occurred about 15 to 20 minutes from his home.

"The Fort Campbell soldiers that live in our communities, go to our churches ... they go to our schools, their kids do," he added. "And this really hurts."

Information for this article was contributed by Bruce Schreiner, Lolita Baldor, Denise Lavoie and Rhonda Shafner of The Associated Press.

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