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Plane CrashesVersion 5

Army Grounds Apache Training Flights After Fatal Crash Near Fort Hood, Texas

Two aviators were killed in the August 12 crash of an AH-64 Apache during a training flight; the Army Combat Readiness Center is leading an open investigation.

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 15, 2026, 12:24 a.m. ET
Developing

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

U.S. Army aviators were killed when an helicopter crashed near , on August 12, 2026, during a training flight, according to reporting by kesq.com, krdo.com, keyt.com, ktvz.com, localnews8.com and cbs58.com. kesq.com and keyt.com reported both of the dead were crew. The investigation is open and the matter is still developing. The cause has not been determined. The outlets reported the killed as Chief Warrant Officer Deontre Huey, 34, and Warrant Officer Seth Olmstead, 25, both of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. Following the crash, the Army directed a temporary stand-down of all training flight operations, the outlets reported. The has seats for crew members, a pilot in the rear and a co-pilot/gunner in front, according to the same reporting. kesq.com, keyt.com, ktvz.com and cbs58.com reported that investigators from the Army Combat Readiness Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama, arrived at the crash scene on Thursday and will lead the investigation; localnews8.com reported the same, without specifying the center's location. cbs58.com and krdo.com reported that the Army said the stand-down will remain in effect until it has a better understanding of the root cause of the accident. No preliminary finding has been released. The individual aircraft involved has not been identified in the available material. Registry records list 47 aircraft under the , of which 39 match the reported type, listed as Boeing-McDonnell Douglas AH-64D Apache; those records describe the operator's holdings and are not an identification of the helicopter in this crash.

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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 Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.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 515 Aug 2026, 04:24current

    Added kesq.com to the attribution for the crash, crew fatalities and the Fort Rucker investigators' arrival.

  2. Version 415 Aug 2026, 04:09

    Added cbs58.com reporting (including its account of the stand-down and investigators' arrival), the two-seat crew configuration detail, and corrected the registry fleet figures to 47 aircraft with 39 matching the type.

  3. Version 315 Aug 2026, 03:27

    Added headline and dek; added keyt.com and ktvz.com attribution including the Fort Rucker location and crew fatality count; corrected the Army registry fleet figure from 85 to 54.

  4. Version 215 Aug 2026, 01:35

    Added krdo.com reporting on the stand-down's duration as a sourced conflict with localnews8.com's account of the investigation, and corrected the operator fleet figure to the 85 aircraft in the registry records, removing unsupported type and airframe breakdowns.

  5. Version 115 Aug 2026, 01:29

    First published.

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