A fighter jet pilot crashed a Utah National Guard helicopter after only spending 35 minutes in a flight simulator, FOX 13 News reports.
The outlet obtained an investigative report on the February 12 accident through a public records request. The report detailed how the accident, which involved an unnamed colonel, took place.
The colonel took off for a test flight at South Valley Regional Airport in West Jordan, Utah, in February. He was accompanied by a chief warrant officer, FOX 13 wrote, citing the investigative report.
An earlier FOX 13 article about the February crash stated that it was an “AH-64 Apache Longbow Helicopter,” a type of attack helicopter.
At the tail end of their 90-minute flight, the colonel tried to hover and land but could not. FOX 13, citing the investigative report, reported that the man panicked and used a flight tactic unsuitable for a helicopter.
The media outlet reported that the chopper fell from 10 feet above the ground before the chief warrant officer could reach the controls.
While the chief warrant officer escaped with minor injuries, the colonel sustained “serious, although non-life-threatening injuries, that required surgical intervention and rehabilitation services,” FOX 13 wrote, citing the investigative report.
The investigative report also said that it was the chief warrant officer’s “overconfidence” that “led to inadequate aircraft flight control management and inadequate altitude selection with an unqualified person on the helicopter’s flight controls,” per FOX 13.
The earlier FOX 13 article stated that the helicopter was extensively damaged by the crash.
A representative of the National Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
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