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in february 2024, salt lake city, utah, usa, was a winter scene, with the snow-capped rocky mountains overlooking the south valley airport. in the near distance, an ah-64d "apache" attack helicopter overturned on the ground (pictured above). the main rotor and tail rotor were no longer visible on the damaged fuselage, leaving only the rocket launch nest under the left short wing to preserve some face for the "tank killer". according to statistics, six "apache" helicopters of the us military have crashed this year, killing 12 people and causing losses of more than 312 million us dollars. even if they are "not short of money", the high accident rate still makes the us military feel uneasy.

in the february accident, the crashed apache belonged to the 1st attack reconnaissance battalion, 211th army aviation regiment, utah national guard, and was undergoing adaptive flight training when the accident occurred. the pilot in the front cabin of the aircraft was a colonel in the u.s. air force reserve who had flown an f-35 fighter, and the pilot in the rear cabin was a warrant officer flight instructor of the regiment. surprisingly, before taking off, the veteran colonel pilot had only received 35 minutes of apache simulator flight training. perhaps it was the aura of being an "old pilot" that made the instructor confident in his flying skills. unfortunately, the colonel pilot actually used the "fighter's operating method", which caused the apache to fail to hover and crash, injuring both people on board. the u.s. military investigation team ruled out mechanical failures and weather factors in the aircraft, and determined that the main cause of the accident was the crew's violation of the training standard operating procedures and errors in air operations.

according to the apache training syllabus, pilot conversion training must complete at least 200 flight hours, excluding simulator flight time. flying the plane after only completing 35 minutes of simulator flight training is obviously a violation of standard operating procedures. in addition, fixed-wing aircraft and rotary-wing aircraft are very different in aerodynamic principles, body structure, and operating methods. even colonel pilots who have flown f-35 fighters need to receive systematic training when switching to rotary-wing aircraft. this is just like the driver of an f1 car may not be able to drive a tourist bus well. it is inevitable that problems will arise based on existing experience. in addition, the warrant officer flight instructor in the rear cabin during the accident did not take over the aircraft even after discovering that the pilot in the front cabin had made three consecutive operational errors. "his overconfidence and flight control management errors" are also important reasons for the crash.

since the introduction of the ah-64 apache attack helicopter in 1984, more than 2,700 have been produced and are used in 18 countries and regions around the world. the crash reflects the problems of loose internal training management and low training quality in the u.s. military, which have attracted the attention of the u.s. military's top brass. in addition to investigating the accident, grounding the model, and investigating responsibilities, the u.s. military has begun to demonstrate the standardization of adaptive flight courses in joint training, and has made it clear that pilots who have not obtained the corresponding qualifications cannot participate in flight training and other specific regulations.