The Army has identified two soldiers who were killed Friday night in an AH-64E Apache helicopter crash near Fort Campbell.
The men, both members of the 101st Airborne Division’s “Destiny” Brigade, were Chief Warrant Officer 3 Ryan Connolly, 37, an instructor pilot, and Warrant Officer James Casadona, 28, a pilot.
The cause of the incident was still under investigation, the Army said. The crew was doing routine training at the time.
“The Destiny Brigade has suffered a great tragedy and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the deceased,” said Col. Craig Alia, commander, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.
Connolly, who joined Army in 2001 and arrived at Fort Campbell in 2016, was from Manchester, Missouri; Casadona, who joined the Army in 2012 and arrived at Fort Campbell earlier this year, was from Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
In the worst helicopter accident at Fort Campell, in 1988, 17 soldiers died in a midair collision of two Blackhawks on a nighttime training mission.
Friday’s crash was one of a spate of recent accidents involving military aircraft, Army Times reported.
On March 14, two Navy aviators were killed when their F/A-18F Super Hornet crashed during a training flight in Florida. A day later, seven airmen were killed when their HH-60 Pave Hawk crashed in western Iraq during a routine transit flight.
On April 3, two more crashes occurred. A Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier crashed during takeoff in Djibouti; the pilot ejected and survived. Later that day, a Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed during a training flight in California, killing the four crew members on board.
And on April 4, an F-16 from the Air Force’s Thunderbirds crashed near Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, killing the pilot.
Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/andreww
