The Commander of the Air Force received the recommendations of the inspection team appointed after the incident in which Maj. Gen. (res.) Dudi Zohar of Haifa was killed in an Apache helicopter crash at the Ramon base.
In addition, the Commander instructed the continued grounding of Apache helicopters until the completion of the investigation and the implementation of all actions required for their renewed use. The main points of the interim report were presented today, Wednesday, to families.
The committee confirmed the initial findings, which indicate that the helicopter crew identified a fault in the helicopter's steering ability. After identifying the problem, the crew flew the helicopter in complex conditions at night, but nevertheless succeeded in bringing it to the area of the base.
This type of malfunction obligated the crew to return for an emergency landing at the base and during the landing attempt, the helicopter crashed.
According to the interim report, no technical connection was found between the accident and the incident in which two months ago a crack was found in the rear rotor blade of the Apache helicopter .
In the crash, another pilot was seriously injured and was evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva.
The crash took place around 21:00, when the helicopter returned to the base from a routine training flight and reported a technical malfunction to the tower .
It continued to approach for landing and, when it was at the height of the control tower, crashed to the ground between the two tracks at the base.