Report: Air Force Reserves Fighter Pilot Crashed Apache Helicopter

F-35 pilot had only 35 minutes of sim time in an Apache before he took off, an Army probe revealed.

Russ Niles

Tuesday, September 03, 2024 at 10:48 AM ET

Verified

Edited By: tccjeremy

[Screenshot of KUTV video/ Courtesy: AVweb]

Key Takeaways:

An F-35 pilot, a colonel with no prior Apache experience and only 35 minutes of simulator time, crashed an Utah National Guard Apache helicopter in February.
The crash occurred when the colonel, attempting to hover and land, panicked and incorrectly applied fixed-wing controls to the rotor-wing aircraft.
The qualified master warrant officer accompanying the colonel was also found at fault due to overconfidence and inadequate flight control management with an unqualified person at the controls.

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An Army investigation found an F-35 pilot with no previous experience in the type was at the controls of an Utah National Guard Apache attack helicopter when it crashed at a base in the state in February.

According to Salt Lake City’s KUTV, which got a copy of the report, the pilot was a colonel, and he had just 35 minutes of sim time in the Apache before he took off on an orientation flight with a master warrant officer who was qualified in the type.