Probe Underway After Mississippi National Guard AH-64 Apache Crashes, Killing 2
An AH-64 Delta Apache standardization instructor pilot and a maintenance test pilot are killed during a training flight mishap.
U.S Army Soldiers assigned to Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment, 185th Aviation Brigade, Mississippi Army National Guard perform aerial maneuvers in an AH-64 Apache near Tupelo, Mississippi, March 29, 2021. [Courtesy: U.S. Army National Guard]
An investigation is underway after a Mississippi National Guard (MSNG) AH-64 Apache went down during a training flight Friday, killing two soldiers on board.
The mishap occurred around 2 p.m. CST Friday during a routine training flight in a wooded area near Booneville, Mississippi, according to military officials.
The Apache was on a routine training flight when the incident occurred, the MSNG State Army Aviation Office confirmed.
The soldiers were identified as Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bryan Andrew Zemek, 36, of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment; and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Derek Joshua Abbott, 42, of Delta Company of the 2nd Battalion, 151st Lakota Medical Evacuation unit.
Zemek served as an AH-64 Delta Apache standardization instructor pilot, and Abbott as a MSNG maintenance test pilot. Both soldiers served at the MSNG Army Aviation Support Facility 2 located in Tupelo, Mississippi.
"Like all accidents, this incident is under investigation," Major General Janson Boyles, the adjutant general of Mississippi, said in a statement. “We are not at liberty to discuss any details of the accident during an ongoing investigation.”
The mishap marked the second AH-64 crash in February, following a Utah National Guard Apache crash February 12 that injured two on board.
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