Army Helicopter Accident Kills Instructor, Student Injured

An instructor pilot (IP) was fatally injured and a student pilot had to be airlifted to a hospital for injuries sustained in the crash of an AH-64 Apache helicopter on Fort Novosel Army base in Alabama.

Military authorities on base said the accident is being investigated but did not immediately provide any info on the circumstances surrounding the accident. However, Dale County Coroner John Cawley did provide the identity of the IP as 46-year-old Daniel Munger, who was retired from the Army and under contract to provide helicopter instruction. No information on the identity or condition of the student pilot has yet been released.

Maj. Gen. Clair A. Gill, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Novosel commanding general said in a statement, “Our primary concern is the welfare and health of the student pilot and care and concern for the family of the deceased.”

Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen, Director of Army Aviation expressed in April the concern within the command on the highest accident rate in a over decade.

He said, “We’ve seen a troubling trend with our accident rates. Certainly, any loss of life is 100% unacceptable and obviously when we have [an] accident where we lose the aircraft or severely damage the aircraft, we consider that unacceptable, too.”

The Army Aviation command defines a Class A mishap as one that results in loss of life or the loss of equipment of more than $2.5 million. The rate is expressed per 100,000 flight hours. In April, the rate was 3.22, more than double the highest rate in any fiscal year since before 2014.

Fort Novosel is the primary training center for Army helicopter pilots and is in southeastern Alabama about 90 miles south of Montgomery. It was formerly known as Fort Rucker and renamed after Army Aviator and Medal of Honor recipient Chief Warrant Officer Michael J. Novosel.