Society's Child

US military helicopter crashes during training flight, 2 National Guardsmen dead

Matthew Seyler
ABC
Sat, 24 Feb 2024 22:27 UTC

Two National Guardsmen are dead after their military helicopter crashed in northeast Mississippi during a routine training flight on Friday, officials said.

The soldiers were identified by state officials on Saturday as Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bryan Andrew Zemek, 36, and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Derek Joshua Abbott, 42.

Both servicemembers served at a Mississippi National Guard Army aviation support facility in Tupelo, according to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves.

Zemek served as an AH-64 Delta Apache standardization instructor pilot and was in the Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment.

Abbott served as a maintenance test pilot and was in the Delta Company of the 2nd Battalion, 151st Lakota Medical Evacuation Unit.

© Gov. Tate Reeves/XIn these images posted to social media by Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, National Guard soldiers Chief Warrant Officer Derek Joshua Abbott and Chief Warrant Officer Bryan Andrew Zemek are shown.

"I wanted to extend my deepest condolences to the families and to the friends of our fallen soldiers," Gov. Reeves said at a press briefing on Saturday. "We will always remember these dedicated soldiers for their honorable service and we grieve with the families during this tragic time."

The AH-64 Apache crashed around 2 p.m. Friday in a wooded area near Booneville in Prentiss County, according to the Mississippi National Guard.

The incident is under investigation and no further details are being released at this time, the Mississippi National Guard said.

"Today is a devastating day for the Mississippi National Guard as we mourn the loss of two of our brave brothers and arms," Maj. Gen. Janson Boyles, commanding general of the Mississippi Army and Air National Guard, said at Saturday's briefing. "This accident serves as a constant reminder of the selfless service, sacrifice and commitment that our brave servicemen and women face while performing in the line of duty."

President Joe Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden "stand ready to provide any assistance needed" as the Department of Defense and National Guard continue their investigation.

"Our prayers are with their families, units, and the entire Mississippi National Guard at this incredibly difficult time," he said in a statement on Saturday. "These two Guardsmen embodied the very best of our nation -- bound by honor, and committed to service. We will continue to keep our solemn promise to care for their families, just as they were faithful to our nation."

Comment: It remains to be seen just exactly what led to their deaths, but, with the seeming increase in accidents such as this, it could be anything from shoddy maintenance, incompetence, the vaccine, Earth Changes, or even a calculated action:

Reader Comments

Spur · 2024-02-26T02:12:50Z

" Earth Changes" - What the Hell? Now Army helicopters are crashing because of 'climate change'?

boli · 2024-02-26T04:27:18Z

Spur Earth Changes are reflections of our sun's electromagnetic activity. Electrically caused "wild" fires, increased waterspout and tornado occurrence, increased volcanism... These are caused by the sun, not by my Suburban. My opinion, FWIW.

Psstoffgoy · 2024-02-26T08:33:41Z

boli I would add, strange animal behaviour including a lot of humans.

codis · 2024-02-26T08:34:07Z

US military helicopter crashes during training flight, 2 National Guardsmen dead

Oh, really ?

And no images of the cash site ?

It is surely not that this is the standard cover-up for US soldiers killed in the Ukraine or Israel, when the administration won't admit to it ...

boli · 2024-02-26T15:21:47Z

codis We have now some mechanical weaponry that is, from a military standpoint, quite wonderful, when it actually can be used. For example, fighter jets and helicopters. But they have a problem. For every hour they are used, several hours of "maintenance" must be done. If the maintenance is not done, or is done incorrectly (perhaps intentionally, by embedded agents), they will fall out of the sky. Further, much of the current crop of aircraft cannot be flown by unaided humans, they rely on computers, and a software or hardware error resulting in Blue Screen in such cases is in fact deserving of the label "Blue Screen of Death".

codis · 2024-02-26T16:28:01Z

boli Sure, this is the second most likely explanation - "diversity hires" as maintainance staff. Who else whould get unharmed through Biden's "Great Purge" ?

Further, much of the current crop of aircraft cannot be flown by unaided humans, they rely on computers, and a software or hardware error resulting in Blue Screen in such cases is in fact deserving of the label "Blue Screen of Death".

I have no special insight in matters, but could for the life of me not understand if they really used M$ Windows for critical hardware like jets. But perhaps you used it as just a figure of speech.

boli · 2024-02-26T19:10:10Z

codis Figure analogous

Spur · 2024-02-26T21:40:43Z

boli I was a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam war. The aircraft were equipped with standard gauges not electronic screens. As part of our instrument flight training we would have the instructor start eliminating different gauges. He would put a shield over, say the artificial horizon, then another, then another. We would end up flying on just the very mechanical airspeed, altitude, turn and ball indicator and a magnetic compass. I wonder what sort of training and gauges the recent crop of pilots get.

I note that both pilots were very experienced CW4s. I seriously doubt this was a pilot error crash.

boli · 2024-02-26T22:33:31Z

Spur During 'Nam, 50+ years ago, my Mustang instrument panel used electrons for pretty much nothing other than light. Maintenance was simple enough I could do almost all of it myself.

Sorry, that was rude. My point was - and is - not that there are screens that might turn blue, but that the failure (software or hardware) of the electronics is not helped with a workaround or a limp. They tend to fall out of the sky. The 50-year-old mechanical stuff could often be nursed to safety.

I agree with you - this seems more like a systemic failure, not something that the pilot did wrong. Whether the failure has to do with design flaw, maintenance screwup or intentional sabotage, I don't know. Both are up for grabs here.

It's a little strange, fairly soon after the Marine crash outside San Diego that killed five jarheads. Chopper from Nellis/Creech to Diego seemed a little strange, but I don't follow the comings and goings out there. The PIO fucked that up, what with saying they were looking for bodies, then acting like all things were copacetic once they found them (or did they?). Just... off.

Spur · 2024-02-26T23:20:15Z

boli "Mustang"?? Are you referring to a P-51? Crikey, I worked with a lot of different aircraft in 'Nam, but never a P-51.

The Marine chopper crash didn't sit well with me. When they said they were looking for the crew, I was flummoxed. They were either dead in the aircraft or if the aircraft wasn't have a catastrophic mess, then the crew would have stayed with the aircraft. Especially as it would have provided some refuge from the weather.

boli · 2024-02-27T00:04:29Z

Spur Car 1970 vs car 2023. Analog view 10 or so instruments vs digital view one display with 20 or so actual signal templates and who knows how many calculated ones.

Couple of years ago, friend had his Lexus die on him, middle of nowhere on I10 in New Mexico. He had pulled into a truck stop and as he was parking, it stopped. He didn't think anything of it, went in and ate. Came back out, car wouldn't start. Battery good, lights, everything good. Would turn over but not start. No messages, no nothing. Mechanics at the place couldn't find anything. Wound up towed a 100 miles to Toyota/Lexus dealer. Turned out a tail light had burnt out or broken (friend said parking lot was bumpy), and a safety feature in the computer prevented the car from being used in an unsaef fashion. Supposed to be a message on the display, but no one saw it if there was. Cost him several hundred dollars and a day and a half.

The Marine chopper thing was strange. Didn't like it then, don't like it now.

Spur ·

boli P-51?

· 2024-02-27T00:35:04Z

boli · 2024-02-27T00:38:18Z

Spur Here ya go again: "Car 1970"

Made then and now by Ford. Mighta heard of them.

Spur · 2024-02-27T00:45:14Z

boli LOL, I thought you were referring to an aircraft you flew in 'Nam. Yeah, I've not only heard of them, but I used to drive a 1968 California Special.

I prefer something I can fix with a screwdriver and a crescent wrench. I used to be an electronic technician and am well aware of the problems associated with electronic devices. Crikey, every time it rains and there are deep puddles on the road I worry about some damn electronic/electrical connector shorting out on my 2017 truck.

codis · 2024-02-27T06:21:45Z

boli

It's a little strange, fairly soon after the Marine crash outside San Diego that killed five jarheads. Chopper from Nellis/Creech to Diego seemed a little strange, but I don't follow the comings and goings out there.

I would say, the theory of a cover-up for deaths in war zone is still in business.

Psstoffgoy · 2024-02-27T08:01:23Z

Spur

LOL, I thought you were referring to an aircraft you flew in 'Nam.

I did too! My flight instructor died in a Hughes 300 C, complete engine failure at 3k, did an autorotation on a pipeline (better option than a tree limb up your ass) the student with him survived. Turned out the fuel pump malfunctioned. Shit happens, especially with so many moving parts on a chopper.

Spur · 2024-02-27T08:39:12Z

Psstoffgoy Sometimes you don't even need a mechanical failure. I went down twice in 'Nam with a tail rotor vortex. It was in an OH-6A (Hughes 500), get low and slow while working a target and the damn tail rotor would fail and around and around you would go. Nothing to do but chop the throttle and drop through the trees.

Hughes engineers knew about the problem and how to fix it. However, I read an internal memo where Howard said not to fix it. He was making up losses in his company and kept selling the design with the faulty tail rotor system. Heaps of guys went down with that tail rotor system.

After the US Army cancelled the contract and bought the Bell Jet Ranger, Hughes fixed the problem and even upgraded the rest of the chopper. It was a VERY good scout helicopter when they finished. Hell, the old Huey UH-B gunship only had 800 shaft horsepower when I flew it my first tour. The later OH6-? had 800 shaft horsepower out of the factory.

The corruption in the military/industrial complex is enormous - and they don't give a shit of young American kids die.

Psstoffgoy · 2024-02-27T10:12:01Z

Spur Yep, it's all about the profits and the extermination of the best and brightest of a few generations.

codis · 2024-02-27T10:29:38Z

Spur

After the US Army cancelled the contract and bought the Bell Jet Ranger, Hughes fixed the problem and even upgraded the rest of the chopper. It was a VERY good scout helicopter when they finished.

If it's the same one I saw during my service (late '80s), one could hear it come from miles away ...

boli · 2024-02-27T16:15:31Z

The corruption in the military/industrial complex is enormous - and they don't give a shit of young American kids die.

It needs to be understood that the actual owners of not just the MIC but Media and pretty much all things America do not consider themselves to be, and certainly are not, Americans. Their highest level employees, who run Boards of Directors, Government agencies, political offices and whatnot, care about nothing except the beans they count. The other side to that is they or their ilk do the same for pretty much every other country, They have far more in common with each other than with any "commoner". They only care about how many bullets and bombs they can sell, and not at all about who or how many are killed.

Peter Jennings · 2024-02-26T08:40:41Z

The US seem to have a lot of aircraft falling from the skies recently. From flaky fighter aircraft, collapsing bridges, flaky railroads, dodgy nuclear plants, flaky electrical grids due to the greenies embezzling public money, there seems to be a pattern forming.

With its flaky electoral system, the evil empire is now a third world junta.

boli · 2024-02-27T16:41:45Z

Peter Jennings The electoral system is hidden from voters. The votes for President/Vice President are shown to be for the candidates. They are not. The ballots are basically fraudulent, as the actual vote is for "electors" at the same level as Congressional Representatives. In fact, what should be on the ballot is a list of candidates for these "elector" spots. I don't even mind if they have a ballot with parties identified and a way to vote for all 38 (Texas has 38 Representative in Congress) of the Democrats or Republicans, and/or any other parties... but I want to see the names, and I want a section with INDEPENDENT ELECTORS, so my I can vote for people who can make bargains on my behalf... before they vote for President.

The worst part of the way it's done now is that the party with the majority of the votes get ALL the electors. For example, in Texas there are 25 Republicans and 13 Democrats in Congress. That's because there are 38 geographical areas, each with its own Representative... but the electoral college representatives are state-wide, and when one party "wins" the Presidentail vote somehow gets all 38 of the electors. I'm not even sure how that's legal, but there it is.

Damn, I apologize, that's a rant... it's more than I meant to write, and probably a whole lot less than needs to be said/written.

As a wise man once said (and I quoted in another thread)

IF VOTING COULD CHANGE THE SYSTEM, VOTING WOULD BE ILLEGAL

IF NOT VOTING COULD CHANGE THE SYSTEM, NOT VOTING WOULD BE ILLEGAL

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US military helicopter crashes during training flight, 2 National Guardsmen dead

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