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Plane CrashesVersion 9

Two U.S. Army Soldiers Killed in Apache Helicopter Crash Near Salado, Texas

The Army Combat Readiness Center is leading the investigation; the cause has not been determined.

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 14, 2026, 12:40 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.

crew members were killed when a crashed near , at , according to reporting by sanantoniopost.com, austinglobe.com, texasguardian.com and dallassun.com. Those outlets reported crew fatalities and no deaths on the ground, and austinglobe.com, texasguardian.com and dallassun.com reported no injuries. thenightly.com.au reported people were on board. The sources do not give a date for the crash. Those killed were identified as Chief Warrant Officer Deontre Huey, 34, and Warrant Officer Seth Olmstead, 25, according to reporting by theboneonline.com, which said the were part of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. Their names had earlier been withheld for 24 hours while families were notified. theboneonline.com also reported that the crash occurred during a maintenance test. Bell County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Cliff Coleman described it as a "violent crash", according to the reporting, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the crash occurred during Fort Hood operations. The Army is calling the crash a "mishap". The crash sparked an uncontrolled grass fire, with several local fire departments responding. The fire spread across roughly 100 acres according to sanantoniopost.com, austinglobe.com, texasguardian.com and dallassun.com, while theboneonline.com reported that KHOU put the burned area at about 155 acres. The blaze was about 45% contained by 5pm , according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. Authorities ordered evacuations in the area around the crash site as firefighters worked to contain the flames. The helicopter did not strike any buildings or other structures. The helicopter was based at the Fort Hood military installation, according to the outlets, which said it remains unclear where the aircraft was coming from or where it was headed. The cause of the crash has not been determined. theboneonline.com, whio.com, wpxi.com, wgauradio.com and wdbo.com reported that the Combat Readiness Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama, is leading the investigation. The individual aircraft has not been identified in the reporting, and no registration is on the record. Registry records list aircraft under the as operator; that is a description of the registry holding and not an identification of the helicopter involved. Geographic reference data places Salado in Bell County, Texas, with a settlement elevation of 614 ft, and lists Salado Airport (73TA) 1.8 miles away and Salado Bluffs Airport (TT61) 4.1 miles away — that data 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
614 ft
Nearest aerodrome
1.8 miles N of Salado Airport (73TA)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 914 Aug 2026, 16:40current

    Added headline and dek, added wgauradio.com to the list of outlets reporting the Combat Readiness Center's lead of the investigation, and tightened casualty attribution.

  2. Version 814 Aug 2026, 16:09

    Updated registry holding to two aircraft under the US Army, added the 1st Cavalry Division unit detail, and attributed the investigating body to all four reporting outlets.

  3. Version 714 Aug 2026, 15:40

    Corrected the operator registry holding from two aircraft to one, per updated reference data.

  4. Version 614 Aug 2026, 14:39

    Added the crew members' names, ranks, ages and unit; the reported maintenance test; the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center investigation; and the conflicting 100-acre and 155-acre fire figures; dropped the developing-situation line.

  5. Version 513 Aug 2026, 08:08

    Corrected the registry holding under the US Army from three aircraft to two, and added dallassun.com to the attribution for the casualty and injury figures.

  6. Version 413 Aug 2026, 06:19

    Added Bell County Sheriff's Office spokesperson's "violent crash" description, the 24-hour withholding of the soldiers' names, Governor Abbott's statement that the crash occurred during Fort Hood operations, multiple fire departments responding, and thenightly.com.au's report of two on board.

  7. Version 313 Aug 2026, 06:10

    Added sanantoniopost.com as a third corroborating outlet and adjusted attribution accordingly.

  8. Version 213 Aug 2026, 03:43

    Added austinglobe.com as a second corroborating outlet, noted no date is given in the sources, added that the aircraft has not been identified alongside the registry's operator fleet count, and corrected the aerodrome distances to avoid overstating direction.

  9. Version 113 Aug 2026, 03:22

    First published.

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