Copter Collision Kills 17 Soldiers at Ft. Campbell

A team of investigators on Wednesday began examining the wreckage of two Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters that collided during a night training mission, killing the 17 soldiers aboard, officials said.

Maj. Randy Schoel said that everyone on the two ships died in the collision Tuesday night near the Tennessee-Kentucky border, about 12 miles from the center of Ft. Campbell. The helicopters reportedly were flying 90 m.p.h. at an altitude of about 250 feet.

It was the worst Army aviation disaster since 248 soldiers based at Ft. Campbell were killed in 1985 in the crash of a chartered troop plane in Newfoundland, Schoel said.

Human Factor Cited

“I would say now there is no indication of any mechanical factor” in the accident, said Chief Warrant Officer Joe Adams, a member of the investigating team from the Army Safety Center at Ft. Rucker, Ala. “We are looking at human and environmental factors. The human factors might include some restriction of vision.”

Bill Harralson of the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell said that three helicopters were flying in formation and one of them was hit by a fourth. “There were three aircraft in formation--if you want to say, ducks in a row--headed east, and another, who was flying solo, hit one of those,” he said.

The Black Hawk, built by the Sikorsky Aircraft Division of United Technologies Corp., is one of the newer helicopters used by the military. It has been grounded four times in three years, however, and officials said last summer that 40 people had died in crashes involving Black Hawks since 1978.