THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 25, 1995 TAG: 9504250293
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: FLORENCE, TEXAS LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
An Army transport helicopter exploded in the air Monday, killing all five crew members.
``When we got to the scene, there was still debris falling from the air,'' said Steve Pruett, a homebuilder who was working nearby. The helicopter crashed in a rural area, splitting into three main pieces, he said.
Pruett and Jeffrey Condon, another construction worker building the only home in the vicinity, said four men and one woman were killed. Condon said he checked unsuccessfully for vital signs.
The crash happened about 11:15a.m. near Florence, a central Texas town of about 800 people, 40 miles north of Austin. The cause was under investigation.
The twin-rotor CH-47 Delta Chinook was based at Fort Hood near Killeen, about 15 miles north of the crash site, Army spokesman Maj. Terry O'Rourke said. He confirmed all five crew members died.
``The helicopter was on a routine test flight'' after ``routine maintenance,'' O'Rourke said. He could not immediately provide details of the aircraft's history, the nature of the maintenance or names of the victims.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT MILITARY ACCIDENT HELICOPTER FATALITIES by CNB