Army helicopter UH-60 crashed at A&M University

BC News and news services

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – An Army helicopter taking part in a training exercise crashed Monday into a field on the campus of Texas A&M University. One crew member was killed and four others were hospitalized,  authorities said.

The UH-60 Black Hawk was carrying a crew of five —four members of the Army National Guard and one member of the ROTC staff at Texas A&M who is a recent graduate, the school said. The helicopter was taking off when it fell abruptly back to the ground on Duncan Field, an open field adjacent to Duncan Dining Hall.

The rudder on the helicopter may have failed, the university said.

 The crash littered debris over much of the field as well as two nearby streets.

The five crew members were taken to two area hospitals, where one of them died, the university said. The conditions of the other four were not immediately available.

The helicopter, along with 190 cadets in the university’s Corps of Cadets, were participating in the ROTC Winter Field Training Exercises taking place at the university.

The Texas A&M campus is about 100 miles northwest of Houston.