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3 dead Idaho Nat. Guardsmen on a training flight.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Three Idaho Army National Guard pilots died Tuesday evening when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Boise during a training flight.

The helicopter was last contacted at 7:45 p.m. while it was on a routine training flight, Col. Christopher Burt said. The UH-60 Black Hawk's emergency transmitter locator was activated about 15 minutes later.

Search and rescue crews found the wreckage about 12:15 a.m. Wednesday near a mountain named Lucky Peak. The names of the pilots killed in the crash were not immediately released so that their relatives could be notified. They were the only people on board.

“This is a tremendous loss to the Idaho National Guard and our community,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Garshak, adjutant general of the Idaho National Guard, in a statement on the Guard's Facebook page. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones as we work through this tragedy.”

The cause of the crash is unknown and is under investigation. The area had rain, snow and fog Tuesday night. Another Idaho National Guard aircraft in the region reported that visibility was low as the cloud cover dropped close to the ground.

“There were forecasted showers in the area,” said Lt. Col. Nicole Washington, the commander of the Guard's 1st of the 183rd Assault Helicopter Battalion, where the pilots served. “From what we know now, when they started to turn back to Boise, it (the weather) had slowly started to deteriorate ... in the back country it can start to deteriorate very quickly."

The three pilots had thousands of flying hours between them, Washington said. Two were senior instructor pilots — both with more than a decade of experience — and the other was an experienced pilot who had been flying for more than five years, she said.

They were taking part in a routine training mission, flying through mountainous terrain after dark and relying in part on night-vision goggles to see. The helicopter was heading back to Boise when the crash occurred, and there was no mayday call or other indication of of a problem before the accident, Washington said.

Officials learned of the crash when the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center in Florida notified them that it had received an active emergency transmitter signal from the Black Hawk. The other aircraft training in the region began searching for the downed helicopter immediately. But it was forced to stop for a time because of the foul weather.

Ground crews from the National Guard and area agencies continued the search, and air crews were sent out again when the weather cleared a few hours later. They found the wreckage after midnight and confirmed there were no survivors.

Recovery operations were expected to continue throughout Wednesday, officials said.

Damn.

Saw that last night. No so Lucky Peak. My sincere condolences to the families and fellow Guardsmen.

Freedom isn't free.

Prayers to the families.

Bad news. Prayers for the families.

Damn. Prayers to the families

Damn, again. A huge thanks to the the families for their sacrifices and heartfelt sympathies.

Article is a bit ambiguous with the total number of fatalities. Mentions the only fatalities were "the pilots on board," which one would think equals two, since it is a two pilot aircraft. Then later indicates three pilots were onboard, assuming one in the passenger compartment. Yet no mention of a crew chief back there as well, which is always an integral part of the crew. Confusing at best. Anyone hear of a more objective based report, as to the total number of fatalities. Sad to hear this.

Later reports just say 3 aboard but no names or ranks yet. These early reports can get confusing because people say more than they know.

I have trained in the Lucky Peak training area along with the NG and doing the same thing. Many times a senior instructor/evaluator will ride in the jump seat and evaluate an instructor who is training or evaluating a pilot. It is fairly common for more than two pilots to be logging flight time in a two pilot aircraft. The airlines do it all the time.

Crew = Pilot, co-Pilot, Flight Engineer (or door gunner, etc)
Journalist who didn't get the concept that it takes more than just a pilot to run a military rotorcraft.

Rest in Peace to those involved. Nothing easy about training in real conditions. Slow hand salute to all who have and continue to answer the call of duty!

Sure hate to hear that.m prayers for their family and fellow soldiers

What he says. Also not unusual for a crew chief not to accompany an NVG single ship training flight. RIP.

Sad deal indeed

My son is a Blackhawk mechanic in the ARNG and he says they don't have FE's in the Army, they are crew chiefs and they serve as door gunner. He said all three were pilots on board as one was in training.

Flying goggles requires 3 trained and qualified personnel. The 3rd one can be a pilot or a crew chief. If it's a Standard's ride (STAN ride) there was probably a pilot in the back verses a crew chief. His or her job is to also clear the tail during low level maneuvers under goggles. Goggles are almost useless in snow or blowing snow. Just my guess but they did not maintain ground clearance and hit the ground at cruise speed. I would think they would of had a radar altimeter but I can't tell you how effective they are in heavy snow. Or, someone wasn't watching it. All in all, it's a sad day for the Guard.

kwg

Damn. RIP. I always figured I’d die in Blackhawk accident vs. enemy fire. I count my blessings.

RIP.

We lost three more - training for a dangerous job.
RIP, sirs.
Prayers for families, friends, and all our military.