An Israeli Apache helicopter pilot was killed and his co-pilot injured when they crashed in the Ramon Air Base in the Negev desert.

An attack helicopter on a training mission crashed on a base in southern Israel Monday night, killing the pilot and critically injuring a crew member, the army said.

Shortly before 9:00 p.m., the pilot reported that the helicopter was experiencing some type of problem during a flight in the Ramon Air Base in the Negev desert.

A few minutes after reporting the issue, as the helicopter was coming in for a landing, it crashed on the runway. It was flying relatively low at the time of the crash, an army spokesperson said, below the level of the flight tower.

The cause of the crash, which came a week after another Apache was forced to make an emergency landing, has yet to be determined. A team of investigators was dispatched to the scene to look for clues among the wreckage, the army said.

The pilot, an Israeli Air Force major in reserves, was killed. The co-pilot, a lieutenant, was critically wounded, the army spokesperson said. They were the only two on board. – The Times of Israel

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