An Apache helicopter crashed near the Ramon Air Force base in the south of Israel on Monday killing one crew member and leaving another seriously wounded Israeli daily Haaretz reported Tuesday.
The pilots were on their way back to the base after a training flight when a technical malfunction was reported around 9 P.M.
According to the Israeli army’s spokesman the helicopter crashed near the landing pad at the base.
A military helicopter evacuated the injured Israeli pilot who was seated in the helicopter’s backseat to a hospital in Beer Sheva.
The pilot who died is a veteran pilot with the rank of a major serving in reserve duty while the injured pilot is a relatively young first lieutenant.
The army’s Apache helicopters were only re-commissioned in July after the discovery of a large crack in the back rotor blade of one of the helicopters in June saw the army’s two Apache squadrons grounded and subjected to inspection.
Last month a Golani officer was killed after being accidentally shot by a soldier during a drill in al-Khalil.
In 2016 an Israeli pilot was killed when he ejected from his F-16I fighter jet after returning from an airstrike mission in the blockaded Gaza Strip. The slightly altered Israeli version of the American-built F-16 has crashed three times during its use by the Israeli occupation forces.
