A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crew responds to a simulated medical evacuation during an exercise with personnel from Joint Task Force-Bravo and a Security Forces Assistance Brigade at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, in 2021. (U.S. Army)
Five soldiers are safe after an Army helicopter crashed in Honduras on Wednesday morning during a routine training mission, U.S. Southern Command confirmed.
The crew of the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter involved in the crash was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment under Joint Task Force-Bravo, said Capt. Hillary Gibson, spokeswoman for the task force.
The aviation battalion routinely performs training missions in support of humanitarian aid and disaster response throughout Central America, she said. It is part of rapid response operations within the region.
The Army Combat Readiness Center at Fort Novosel, Ala., said Thursday that it has sent a team to investigate the crash, which occurred at about 9:34 a.m. roughly 5 miles east of Soto Cano Air Base.
This is the second Black Hawk crash for the Army this year. In January, an Army helicopter collided with a civilian commercial jet over the Potomac River in Washington, killing four soldiers and all 60 passengers on the commercial flight. The investigation into that crash is ongoing.
Steven McLoud, a spokesman for SOUTHCOM, said the incident in Honduras was a “precautionary emergency landing.” A medical evaluation cleared all five crew members of any significant injuries, he said.
An investigation will determine the cause of the incident, he said.
The Joint Task Force-Bravo is the Defense Department’s longest established task force that has been operating at Soto Cano Air Base near Comayagua since 1983, Gibson said.
Aside from the Black Hawks, the battalion also conducts flight operations with CH-47F Chinooks and medical evacuation helicopters. Some of its additional capabilities include counter-narcotics, deck landing operations, search and rescue and air movements to secluded locations.
