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Three Idaho Army National Guard pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed in bad weather Tuesday night while on a routine training mission, the Guard said on Wednesday.
The pilots were in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter when it came down south of Lucky Peak, a park about 10 miles east of Boise, around 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday , the National Guard said in a statement. The bodies were found on Wednesday and a recovery effort was underway, he said.
Guard Aviation Officer Lt. Col. Nicole Washington told a press conference on Wednesday the cause of the crash was not known, but the weather was bad, with snow and a low ceiling of fog which hampered the flight. and subsequent efforts to search for the victims.
The pilots, all experienced and including two instructors, wore night vision goggles as they flew over mountainous terrain in an area known as Three Point, Colonel Washington said.
“The weather had started to slowly deteriorate. It can start to deteriorate pretty quickly ”in the hinterland, she said. “The snow was quite heavy and the ceiling was coming down.”
The pilots had each completed thousands of hours in careers ranging from five to 15 years, Colonel Washington said. They did not send an emergency signal indicating they were in trouble, she said.
“No May. No declaration of emergency, ”Colonel Washington said.
“This leaves a huge and indescribable void in our aviation community,” she added.
The cause of the crash was not known and would be investigated by Army aviation safety officials, who will arrive in Boise on Thursday, the Guard said.
It was the second crash in two weeks in which a National Guard team in a Black Hawk helicopter was killed in the United States. On January 20, a New York Army National Guard helicopter on a training mission crashed near Rochester, New York, killing three members of the Guard.
And in 2019, a Black Hawk helicopter carrying three members of the Army National Guard crashed in Minnesota during a maintenance test flight, killing all three crew members on board.
The helicopter in Idaho last made contact around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, said Col. Christopher Burt, an aviation officer with the Idaho National Guard. Once an emergency device on board the plane was activated, a team began emergency recovery work which included air and ground search and rescue teams, the guard said.
An aircraft that first attempted to assist in the search had to turn around due to weather conditions.
Crews located the plane and pilots at around 12:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday, the Guard said.
The names of those who died were not immediately released.
“This is a huge loss to the Idaho National Guard and our community,” said Maj. Gen. Michael J. Garshak, Idaho adjutant general and commander of the Idaho National Guard. “Our thoughts and prayers are with families and loved ones as we go through this tragedy.”
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