Army immediately grounds all Cobra helicopters in wake of deadly crash as it investigates cause

 
An AH-1S Cobra helicopter belonging to an Army aviation unit crashed during a training flight in Gapyeong County, Gyeonggi, on Monday for unknown reasons, killing both crew members on board. An investigation into the cause of the accident is now underway.
 
The AH-1S helicopter went down at around 11:04 a.m. near Hyeon-ri in Jojong-myeon. The two occupants, both warrant officers, were found unconscious and taken to civilian hospitals, where they were later pronounced dead.
 
According to the military, there was no explosion following the crash, and no civilian damage was reported as the helicopter fell into a dry riverbed. Closed-circuit television footage provided by local residents to news outlets shows the aircraft suddenly losing stability mid-flight and plunging vertically to the ground within seconds.
 
The Army immediately grounded all helicopters of the same model and set up an accident response task force led by the acting deputy chief of staff of Army headquarters, who also heads logistics, to conduct a thorough investigation.
 
The Cobra model was involved in another incident in August 2023, when a Cobra helicopter’s main rotor detached at an altitude of about one meter (3.3 feet) during takeoff. No casualties were reported at the time, but the malfunction narrowly avoided being a major disaster.
 

Army and fire authorities secure the site after an AH-1S Cobra helicopter belonging to an Army aviation unit crashes in Hyeon-ri, Jojong-myeon, Gapyeong County, Gyeonggi, on Feb. 9. [NEWS1]

 
Following that incident, the Army suspended operations of the model for about 16 months to conduct safety inspections. During the period, the helicopters were used only for limited ground-based training, such as chemical decontamination drills. After undergoing extensive checks, the aircraft returned to flight duty in December 2024. The latest crash occurred just over a year after operations resumed.
 
“Every possibility, including mechanical defects, is being examined,” an Army official said.
Both inside and outside the military, attention has focused on the aircraft’s age as a possible root cause. The AH-1S model has been in service since 1988 and is approaching 40 years old. The Army currently operates about 60 Cobras, which are scheduled to be phased out starting in 2028.
 
Concerns have also been raised about delays in deploying the Cobra’s replacement, the domestically developed Light Armed Helicopter (LAH). Fewer than 10 LAHs have been delivered so far, and the Army plans to acquire about 180 units by 2031. Until then, the aging Cobra fleet is scheduled to continue operation.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY YOON JI-WON [[email protected]]