Apache Helicopters Have Been Crashing At Higher Rates Than Usual: Report

U.S. Army Apache helicopters are crashing at a disturbing rate this year, according to a new report. CNN conducted an analysis of military accident data and found that the rate at which the helicopters are going down is historically high. According to the network, the helicopter has had five crashes since October, including a crash this month that killed two in Texas.

Major Apache crashes appeared to be occurring at a rate of about 6.24 per every 100,000 flying hours. So far in this fiscal year, there have been five major crashes. As of August 15, there had been about 80,171 hours flown.

After the Texas crash, the army temporarily paused all Apache helicopter training missions. Fort Hood identified the men killed in the crash as Chief Warrant Officer 2 Deontre T. Huey and Warrant Officer Seth L. Olmstead.

"Our hearts and deepest condolences are with the families of the soldiers we lost Wednesday," Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral, III Armored Corps and Fort Hood commanding general, said in the statement. "The Army is a family, and a tragedy like this is felt throughout our formations and our community."

Fox News reported that the army resumed training flights less than a week after the Texas crash. This decision comes after a thorough review of safety procedures and flight operations," the U.S. Army said in a statement, according to Fox.

Ron McCallum, a former military and commercial pilot, told Fox that Apache's that if the flights resumed, they had some idea of what went wrong.

"They will have some level of knowledge mechanically at a minimum in terms of what, if anything, malfunctioned in the machine itself," McCallum told Fox, adding that the Apache's are known to be troublesome and difficult to fly. "Anyone that's flown one or been in contact with them, mechanically or otherwise, knows this...There's a lot of living parts, so things can go wrong, and when they do go wrong, they go wrong very rapidly."