National Guard Announces Safety Stand Down Following Recent Helicopter Crashes

National Guard ^ | Feb. 27, 2024

[george76]

ARLINGTON, Va., — The National Guard Bureau announced today the director of the Army National Guard has ordered an aviation safety stand down of all Army National Guard helicopter units to review safety policies and procedures following two recent helicopter crashes. The stand down went into effect Monday.

Two separate crashes of AH-64D Apache helicopters in Utah on February 12 and Mississippi on February 23 drove the decision to ground all helicopters for safety reasons. Mississippi Army National Guard pilots Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bryan Andrew Zemek and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Derek Joshua Abbott died in the February 23 crash.

“We are a combat force with helicopters training or on mission worldwide every day,” said Lt. Gen. Jon A. Jensen, director of the Army National Guard. “Safety is always at the top of our minds. We will stand down to ensure all of our crews are prepared as well as possible for whatever they’re asked to do.”

Nearly 45,000 National Guard men and women are currently deployed in support of the National Guard’s primary missions: Fighting America’s Wars and Securing the Homeland.

[EEGator]

Quite a banner year for the Army.

I wonder if they’ll regret chastising white males…

[Darksheare]

Obviously the crash was due to not enough DEI, safe spaces, fur suits, pup masks, gender pretenders, and too many white people.
Does the sarc tag need to be on there?
I can almost guarantee that their conclusion from the safety stand down will be idiotic.

[PeterPrinciple]

https://www.nationalguard.mil/News/

not found here?

[laplata]

Quite a banner year for the Army.

I wonder if they’ll regret chastising white males…

>><<

They must regret it because they can’t enlist enough white males because Critical Race theory is used on new recruits. Who would want to be subjected to being accused of being a racist and demonized for being white?

[EEGator]

I tell all white dudes to stay away from the military.
I tell them to do trades or STEM.
Follow Scott Adams’ rule as well.

[Empire_of_Liberty]

How about simulation tests of what we have, now? Just to know where we stand. Maybe the few who pass are worth additional training for improvement.

[laplata]

Good advice and recommendations.

[aimhigh]

When I read about a military helicopter crash, my first question is: How old was it?

[guest7]

“We are a combat force with helicopters training or on mission worldwide every day,”

“Safety is always at the top of our minds."

"We will stand down to ensure all of our crews are prepared as well as possible for whatever they’re asked to do.”

said Lt. Gen. Jon A. Jensen, director of the Army National Guard. Is this guy a "desk jockey"? Does he know anything about flying?

Probable Cause: Dan Gryder (goto 7:25 on this youtube video)

PICK ONE:

Night:

IMC:

Ice:

Terrain:

This mission was flown with "All Four"; they shouldn't have been ordered to "try" under these conditions.

Who ever ordered this mission should be held responsible...

[Slingwing]

Well to be fair, the UTARNG incident was a familiarization flight with a front seater not qualified in the AH-64. Granted the back seater was a AH-64 instructor pilot while the front seater was a fixed wing aviator from another branch. First rule in the attack world is not let a starch wing have the controls, especially close to the surface. The MSARNG flight is a suspected strap pack failure. Both aviators were well respected and highly qualified but when the strap pack fails on one blade it goes bye,bye creating an extreme lateral vibration and uncontrollable change in pitch and roll axis. I doubt any have survived when something as serious as this happens. The AH-64 does have its faults. I do feel some great sorrow for the MSARNG and their loss because this was an unavoidable incident but you are correct the ARMY is having a banner year for other reasons. It is called politics and crazy liberals running the show.

[Feckless]

I went through two of these “Safety Stand downs” while assigned to the 9th Aviation Brigade at Ft Lewis in the mid 80’s. The real reason for these Stand downs is to have thousands of hours (72 hours times x number of aircraft or crew members) doing absolutely nothing related to aviation. It raises your Safety stats and you get credit for “doing something” to fix the problem. Did I mention that I hate Army Aviation?

[ronnie raygun]

Bet DEI mechanics are involved

[Fury]

Re: 11 - thanks for an informative post. I don’t believe people appreciate the amount of maintenance rotary-wing aircraft require.

Re: MSARNG mishap - do you think this could be due to a strap pack nut failure?

To All - good video on strap pack assembly and the retrofit done circa 2018-19:

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/607804/texas-national-guard-fields-apache-strap-pack-mega-nut-b-roll

[Fury]

Re: 13 - pretty ignorant statement without knowing all the facts.

[Slingwing]

Still early and to speculate to deeply would not do justice to those who perished in the incident. Remember the military buys from the lowest bidder. What makes the equipment they buy so good is the ability of the crews to overcome the shortfalls they are ask to operate under. The AH-64 is no different and has plenty of faults. Sad part is the investigation will create a solution amounting to a Band-Aid fix yet there will be plenty who will volunteer to fly it again and again. All indicators point to a design flaw that has been inherent to the AH-64 from inception. I disliked the aircraft for many reasons but was still willing to hop in for a spin around the patch knowing there was always a possibility. Still saddened to the fact that there are two lost souls due to this tragic event

[Fury]

Good points. Will look for the public report of the mishap in a year or so.