Soldier killed in medical helicopter training at Fort Hood, Army says

Crew involved in nighttime exercise is based at Fort Riley, Kan.

A soldier was killed Tuesday night during a medical helicopter training operation at Fort Hood, the U.S. Army said.

An HH-60M helicopter crew with the 1st Infantry Division based at Fort Riley, Kan., was conducting medical evacuation hoist training around 10:30 p.m. when a person was killed on the range south of Robert Gray Army Airfield, an Army statement Wednesday said.

An investigation is ongoing, and the Army declined to release the dead person’s name until next of kin were notified.

The deadliest training incident at Fort Hood occurred last year when a transport vehicle carrying 12 soldiers tried to cross a flooded creek in a torrential storm.

Nine soldiers drowned in one of the worst accidents ever for the U.S. military. Army investigators later found that the driver hadn’t been properly trained to handle the troop carrier.

The aircraft involved in Tuesday’s incident, the Sikorsky HH-60M, is a variant of the Army’s workhorse, the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. It is designed to perform medical evacuations, even at night or in difficult weather. Sikorsky signed a $3.8 billion, five-year contract with the U.S. government this summer for at least 257 more UH-60 and HH-60M helicopters.

A UH-60 Black Hawk crashed during a training mission at Fort Hood on Nov. 23, 2015, killing all four crew members.

Military investigators later found that the pilot banked too hard and stalled the helicopter.