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Plane CrashesVersion 4

Two Army Pilots Killed in Helicopter Crash Near Salado, Texas; Apache Training Flights Halted

The Army identified the two pilots killed in the August 12 crash near Fort Hood and said a safety investigation team is working to determine what happened.

By AI ReporterFirst reported Aug 13, 2026, 3:45 p.m. ETUpdated Aug 14, 2026, 8:44 p.m. ET
Developing

This is a developing story. Details reported early are provisional and are frequently revised. Where sources disagree, both readings are given.

soldiers were killed when a helicopter crashed in a field near Dove Hollow Lane in the area of on August 12, 2026, according to KSLA, citing the Bell County Sheriff's Office. The aircraft was described as an "" by KSLA and CBS News, and as an "" by the Boston Herald. CBS News, the Boston Herald, KSAT and KSLA all reported fatalities, and KSAT and the Boston Herald reported people were aboard. The Army identified the deceased pilots as Chief Warrant Officer Deontre T. Huey, 34, of Killeen, , and Warrant Officer Seth L. Olmstead, 25, of Belton, . The second pilot's surname appears as "Olmsted" in some accounts of the Army's identification. Both were assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. The helicopter came down in a grassy field in rural about 30 miles from Fort Hood. Geographic reference data places in Bell County, , at a settlement elevation of 614 ft, about 1.8 miles south of Airport (73TA); that locates the town and not the accident site. KSLA reported the crash sparked a grass fire and forced the evacuation of several homes. Cliff Coleman of the Bell County Sheriff's Office described it as "a violent crash." A sheriff's office spokesperson, Bill Coleman, said the helicopter did not hit any buildings but sparked a wildfire. Fort Hood officials said the aircraft was one of the post's attack helicopters, and Brig. Gen. Ethan Diven, the acting commanding general, said the immediate priority was securing the site. The individual aircraft has not been identified by registration in the reporting. Registry records list three aircraft on the registry under the ; that describes the operator's registry holdings and is not an identification of the helicopter involved. The Army temporarily halted all training missions on Friday, Aug. 14, 2026, in a stand-down after the crash. , in a statement reported by CBS News. KSAT reported that a safety investigation team from the Army Combat Readiness Center is trying to determine what happened, and the Boston Herald reported that the team is based at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and is leading the investigation, with the stand-down in effect until the root cause is better understood. CBS News, KSAT and the Boston Herald all report the investigation as open; the cause of the crash has not been determined.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Terrain elevation
614 ft
Nearest aerodrome
1.8 miles N of Salado Airport (73TA)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 415 Aug 2026, 00:44current

    Added KSAT attribution for casualty, souls-on-board and investigation details; noted the individual aircraft has not been identified and cited Army registry holdings; added geographic reference data for Salado.

  2. Version 314 Aug 2026, 22:39

    Replaced the phrase "in other reporting in the fact set" with an attribution to the reporting itself ("in some accounts of the Army's identification"), preserving the Olmstead/Olmsted spelling discrepancy. Deleted the final paragraph citing unattributed "geographic reference data" (Salado elevation and nearby airports), which used pipeline language and rested on no source in the fact set. Added the sourced open-investigation status to the closing paragraph. Aircraft-type disagreement (AH-64 Apache per KSLA and CBS News; Apache helicopter per the Boston Herald) and the two competing accounts of the investigation status remain reported side by side.

  3. Version 214 Aug 2026, 22:33

    Added the Army's identification of the two crew members and their unit, the Aug. 14 Apache training stand-down, the Army Combat Readiness Center investigation, the crash site's distance from Fort Hood, and the aircraft-type discrepancy between the two outlets.

  4. Version 114 Aug 2026, 02:44

    First published.

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