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Plane CrashesVersion 4

Two Killed in Army Apache Helicopter Crash Near Fort Hood, Texas

Outlets report the AH-64 came down in a central Texas field during a routine training flight, sparking a wildfire; Fort Hood's criminal investigation division is leading the inquiry.

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 13, 2026, 3:43 a.m. ET
people were killed when an crashed in a field in central Texas near , according to the Daily Star, the Express, the Mirror and the Irish Mirror. Accounts of the date differ: the Express, the Irish Mirror and the Daily Star reported the crash occurred on August 12, 2026, while the Mirror reported August 13, 2026. The situation is developing and details remain incomplete. All four outlets reported fatalities. On the operator, the outlets differ in their wording: the Mirror reported the helicopter belonged to the , while the Daily Star described it as an aircraft. The Mirror reported there were no deaths on the ground; the Mirror and the Irish Mirror reported people were on board. The outlets reported the helicopter was on a routine training flight and that the crash sparked a wildfire that forced a number of nearby homes to be evacuated. A Bell County Sheriff's office spokesman, Cliff Coleman, said the helicopter did not hit any homes or other structures. Photographs described by the outlets showed firefighters walking around a charred field with dark smoke rising from the wreckage. The phase of flight is unknown, according to the Irish Mirror. The aircraft involved has not been identified in the available material; no registration is on the record. Registry records list three aircraft under the as operator — that is a description of the operator's holdings on the registry and not an identification of the aircraft in this crash. The cause has not been determined, and the outlets reported no explanation was immediately provided. The Daily Star, Express and Mirror reported that 's criminal investigation division is leading the crash investigation; the Irish Mirror reported that the criminal investigation division at nearby is heading up the inquiry. Brig. Gen. Ethan Diven, the acting commanding general, said the immediate priority is securing the site, according to the outlets, which also reported that spans 214,968 acres (336 square miles) and is used for the training and deployment of heavy forces. The outlets further noted earlier events at : in November 2015 four soldiers were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training exercise, and in 2016 nine soldiers died when a rain-swollen creek swept their vehicle away. Those earlier events say nothing about the cause of this crash. Geographic reference data places in Coryell County, Texas, at a settlement elevation of 741 ft, and lists nearby aerodromes including Landing Strip 50 and Cold Springs UAV Airstrip, each 5.7 miles away, and Landing Strip 12 Hammer, 8.0 miles away. The reference data is geocoded from the place name and locates the settlement only, not the accident site.

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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
741 ft
Nearest aerodrome
5.7 miles ESE of Fort Hood Landing Strip 50 (US-6498)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 413 Aug 2026, 07:43current

    Added Daily Star as a source and its August 12 date and operator wording, noted the operator description conflict, corrected the operator fleet count to three, added the 2016 Fort Hood vehicle deaths and the unknown phase of flight, and restated the nearby aerodromes without inferred directions.

  2. Version 313 Aug 2026, 05:24

    Added Irish Mirror as a third source, made August 12 the lead date with the Mirror's August 13 as the competing figure, corrected the operator fleet count from three to two, and added the Fort Hood acreage detail.

  3. Version 213 Aug 2026, 03:53

    Added Express reporting as a second source, reported the Aug 12/13 date conflict as a sourced range, noted the aircraft has not been identified alongside registry fleet data, and corrected the geographic reference wording.

  4. Version 113 Aug 2026, 02:34

    First published.

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