Pentagon officials confirm TN National Guard helicopter crash
A lot happening. We do want to get back to that breaking news. We've been following a deadly helicopter crash just across the border in harvest Alabama, right near Huntsville. We know two crew members were aboard the Blackhawk and they were killed. That helicopter belonged to the Tennessee National Guard and the crew members were doing a training exercise when it crashed. All right, we have team coverage as we mentioned five alert anchor Hunter Hoagland is taking a deeper look at the helicopter involved. First though, News Channel five's Jason Lamb is live tonight in Huntsville near the crash site and Jason, I understand you talked with the man who saw what happened.
Yeah, that's right, Roy. We're near highway 53 in the town of harvest that is just outside of Huntsville. Were a few 100 yards from the crash site and as we zoom in over here, it may be hard to see through these trees, but what you can see through them is that is part of the covered up crash site area that Blackhawk appears to still be there covered up as the investigation continues. Now, a crash happened just before three o'clock again during a training mission with two guardsmen on board who died. Now you can imagine the terror of seeing this happen in real time. We spoke with someone who was driving on the highway when he saw the helicopter crash. Here's what he saw.
He was flying. It was kind of almost, I'd say almost like a wobble, you know, it was just kind of just wobbling a little bit. And then when he came down, I mean the engine sound it was, I mean it was deafening. It was so loud, but the blades on the helicopter were, they weren't spinning real fast when he come down and he come down on the nose and nose caved in, but he was already starting to flip upside down when he hit. Yeah. Now, Davey called 911 then took out his phone and started recording these images. You can see the flames and the thick black plume of smoke coming from that helicopter just two minutes after it crashed.
Tonight, investigators are here as the highway remains closed, likely for days, according to officials here and listen to this. There is a neighborhood very close to here as horrible a situation this was tonight. Things could have been so much worse. Yeah, the subdivision is to the east. If you're heading south, the subdivisions to the east, maybe 300 yards. Um, and that's the direction that they came from the back side of it. The way that they was flying, I don't know what was going on, but in my opinion, they're heroes because if they was having issues causing them to fly that way, it could have very easily hit the subdivision.
Um, and they managed to get it out in the open road and yeah, there was traffic coming, but where they landed, there was nobody there. You know, luckily there was nobody there, but in my eyes are heroes, man. The Tennessee National Guard says no one else was hurt in this crash. Let's get over to five alert anchor Hunter Houghland. Now he has a closer look and in depth look at what these helicopters are really capable of Hunter. Hey Jason, yeah, we now know it was a UH 60 Blackhawk helicopter that went down at around three o'clock this afternoon. When this was all happening, I was actually talking with a retired Blackhawk pilot about everything that was going on up in the year.
He says these are some of the toughest and most reliable pieces of machinery that the U. S. Military has. It can hold a total of 15 people. That includes four crew members and 11 passengers. The statement we got from the guard said two crew members were on board when they were killed. We know it was a training mission, so it's possible it was just a pilot and co pilot inside.
Obviously we will not know the full details until that investigation is complete. But these helicopters, it's imperative when it comes to what the National Guard does and their mission out there. They fly into the worst tragedies, floods, fires, you name it, and they immediately begin search and rescues. We also know these things are super sturdy, right? They are literally built to withstand gunfire as they fly over war zones and in and out of just really tough situations. It is still unclear tonight what caused the helicopter to fall from that sky. That sobering video we all watched earlier, but certainly something that investigators are working to figure out here in the meantime, both the leader of the National Guard and the governor saying just what a heartbreaking situation this is not only for the families, but for the state of Tennessee. You can see Governor Billy.
He put this out. He said Maria and I are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of two Tennessee National Guard members going on to say these families they need to be lifted up in prayer tonight and carry just certainly all of us here in News Channel five thinking of that call that no family wants to get. Yeah, just thinking of those families tonight, just a horrible, horrible night. Thank you, Hunter and Jason. New details are going to come out about this tomorrow and likely later on this week. We will be following all of the developments. You will be able to find those first on the News Channel five app.
This is the story that we already have posted there tonight. Now, if you don't have the app that you can download it for free right now.
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