FirstAlerts
Plane CrashesVersion 25

Two Army Aircrew Killed in Apache Helicopter Crash Near Salado, Texas; Fleet Temporarily Grounded

iHeart stations report the U.S. Army has grounded all Apache flights and opened a safety investigation into the crash of an AH-64 on a maintenance test flight from Fort Hood.

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 14, 2026, 10:54 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.

aircrew were killed when an crashed near , Texas, according to reporting by iHeart stations including klvi.iheart.com, wspd.iheart.com, wbex.iheart.com, 710wor.iheart.com, wjdx.iheart.com, 970kfbx.iheart.com, ktok.iheart.com, veropatriot.iheart.com, newstalk1230.iheart.com, wvoc.iheart.com, ktsmradio.iheart.com, newstalk1130.iheart.com, 650keni.iheart.com, kprcradio.iheart.com and 943wsc.iheart.com. The situation is still developing. The outlets place the crash on August 12 but disagree on the year: most, including wbex.iheart.com, wjdx.iheart.com, klvi.iheart.com, 970kfbx.iheart.com, ktok.iheart.com, newstalk1130.iheart.com, koacolorado.iheart.com, wgy.iheart.com, khow.iheart.com and wtam.iheart.com, give August 12, 2026, while wspd.iheart.com, 710wor.iheart.com, newstalk1230.iheart.com, wvoc.iheart.com, 943wsc.iheart.com, kprcradio.iheart.com, wdov.iheart.com, 95wxtk.iheart.com and newsradio710.iheart.com give August 12, 2025. All of the outlets report crew members were killed; ktsmradio.iheart.com, 970kfbx.iheart.com, wercfm.iheart.com, 720thevoice.iheart.com, newstalk1130.iheart.com, 650keni.iheart.com, wgy.iheart.com, koacolorado.iheart.com, wlap.iheart.com, wrak.iheart.com, khow.iheart.com, wtam.iheart.com and wjdx.iheart.com put total fatalities at . Those killed were identified in the reporting as Chief Warrant Officer Deontre T. Huey, 34, and Warrant Officer Seth L. Olmstead, 25, both described as from Texas. The helicopter was from Fort Hood and was on a maintenance test flight, according to the same reporting. The , which operates the AH-64 Apache fleet and to which the helicopter belonged, said in a statement quoted by the outlets that the aircraft "experienced a mishap" during the flight. The Bell County Sheriff's Office, the local law enforcement agency for the county where sits, confirmed the crash damaged no buildings or structures; the outlets report it sparked a wildfire that was still burning out of control shortly after the crash. The phase of flight at the time of the crash is unknown, according to khow.iheart.com and talkradio1059.iheart.com. The cause has not been determined. The outlets report that , and that the Army temporarily grounded all Apache helicopter flights following the crash as a precautionary measure. The reports also state that recent Army data indicates Apaches have experienced a higher number of mishaps than other helicopters in the service's inventory; that record says nothing about the cause of this crash. The specific aircraft involved has not been identified in the available material. Registry records list one aircraft under the as operator; that record describes what the operator holds and is not an identification of the aircraft in this crash. Geographic reference data places in Bell County, Texas, at a settlement elevation of 614 feet, 1.8 miles south of Airport (73TA) and 4.1 miles southwest of Bluffs Airport (TT61); that elevation describes the town, not the accident site.

Was this report accurate and useful?

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 2515 Aug 2026, 02:54current

    Reworked the headline and dek; body otherwise unchanged from v24.

  2. Version 2415 Aug 2026, 02:22

    Added second nearby aerodrome (Salado Bluffs, TT61) from geographic reference data; no change to casualty figures or investigation status.

  3. Version 2315 Aug 2026, 01:53

    No new facts; headline and dek sharpened, source list completed to cover all reporting outlets.

  4. Version 2215 Aug 2026, 01:23

    Corrected operator fleet figure: registry records now list one aircraft under the U.S. Army, not three.

  5. Version 2115 Aug 2026, 01:04

    Updated operator fleet count in registry paragraph from one aircraft to three.

  6. Version 2015 Aug 2026, 00:39

    Updated the operator fleet figure: registry records now list one aircraft under the U.S. Army, not two.

  7. Version 1915 Aug 2026, 00:20

    Updated operator fleet reference from one to two aircraft listed on the registry under the U.S. Army.

  8. Version 1814 Aug 2026, 23:59

    Added 95wxtk and newsradio710 to the outlets giving the 2025 date; tightened Army statement attribution and headline.

  9. Version 1714 Aug 2026, 23:53

    Introduced the quoted speaker before the quote: the U.S. Army is now identified as the operator of the Apache fleet and owner of the crashed aircraft, and the "experienced a mishap" line is presented as coming from an Army statement quoted by the iHeart stations. Also identified the Bell County Sheriff's Office as the local law enforcement agency for the county containing Salado. All figures, names, dates, the date disagreement and its attribution, the open-cause language and the caveats on registry and geographic reference data are unchanged.

  10. Version 1614 Aug 2026, 23:43

    Trimmed the repetitive outlet lists in the lead and added talkradio1059.iheart.com as a second source for the unknown phase of flight; facts unchanged.

  11. Version 1514 Aug 2026, 23:39

    No new facts; headline and dek clarified, story otherwise unchanged from v14.

  12. Version 1414 Aug 2026, 23:35

    Updated the operator fleet figure from three to four aircraft on the registry.

  13. Version 1314 Aug 2026, 23:29

    Added wmrn, khow, newstalk1400online and wtam to the date and fatality-total attribution lists as additional syndicated versions were verified; no facts changed.

  14. Version 1214 Aug 2026, 23:23

    Added that the phase of flight at the time of the crash is unknown, per khow.iheart.com.

  15. Version 1114 Aug 2026, 23:22

    No new facts; added the remaining iHeart stations to the date-discrepancy and fatality attributions and tightened wording.

  16. Version 1014 Aug 2026, 23:15

    Updated the operator fleet figure from registry records from one aircraft to three.

  17. Version 914 Aug 2026, 23:09

    Corrected the operator registry count to one aircraft and added wercfm.iheart.com and whoradio.iheart.com to the date and fatality attributions.

  18. Version 814 Aug 2026, 23:05

    Added kprcradio.iheart.com and 1061fmtalk.iheart.com to the attribution lists for the crash and the conflicting crash dates; no facts changed.

  19. Version 714 Aug 2026, 22:59

    Added two further iHeart stations (650keni, 943wsc) to the sourcing and date-conflict attribution, and noted reports describing both crew as from Texas.

  20. Version 614 Aug 2026, 22:53

    Registry fleet count corrected from three to two aircraft, and newstalk1130.iheart.com added to the outlets cited for the date and fatality figures.

  21. Version 514 Aug 2026, 22:48

    Added four further iHeart stations to the attribution for the crash, the 2026 date and the two-fatality total.

  22. Version 414 Aug 2026, 22:44

    Added wvoc.iheart.com and wonw1280.iheart.com to the attributed reporting, including on the disputed year of the crash date.

  23. Version 314 Aug 2026, 22:28

    Updated operator fleet figure to three aircraft per registry records and added ktok.iheart.com and veropatriot.iheart.com to the attributed outlets, including on the date discrepancy.

  24. Version 214 Aug 2026, 22:23

    Added two further reporting outlets (970kfbx.iheart.com and newstalk1230.iheart.com) and their date attributions; corrected the operator fleet count on the registry from three to one, and corrected Salado's position relative to Salado Airport (73TA) to north.

  25. Version 114 Aug 2026, 22:19

    First published.

How we work

This site models an investigative reporter rather than a wire desk. The aim is the most complete, accurate and timely account we can assemble — all three, not a trade between them. Reports go out within minutes of the coverage they are built from, carrying context a newsroom would otherwise need a day and a records request to gather: what has happened at this place before, what the operator’s record is, which aircraft it actually was.

Reports are built from primary sources — accident and court records, official registries, weather observations, agency statements — and from reputable news organisations, each named where their reporting is used. Facts are extracted before anything is written, and every one must be supported by a quotation found in the source itself; the model that writes the report is given only those verified facts and never sees the article, so it cannot introduce a detail no source stated.

Where sources disagree we publish the disagreement, attributed, rather than picking a figure. Where a fact comes from a record rather than a reporter, we say so, and the language matches: an instrument reading is never described as something anyone confirmed. Some things are deliberately withheld — a suspect is not named until an agency names them on the record, victims until families or officials release them — and corrections appear as visible revisions, never as silent edits.

None of that makes a report true. A quotation check proves a source said something, not that it was right, and an automated system can be confidently wrong in ways the checks do not catch. If something here is wrong, the feedback above is how it gets found. The full methodology, including what we refuse to publish.