Thai Army’s Training Helicopter Crashes, 2 Crew Killed

An Enstrom 480B training helicopter of the Thai Army crashed at the Kaset airstrip in Nakhon Sawan province on Tuesday killing two  crew members.

The helicopter was among several such machines that were on a training mission.

The army has set up a committee to investigate the crash, which killed both crewmen, in Muang district of Nakhon Sawan province on Tuesday morning, Thai media reported.

Deputy spokeswoman Col Sirichan Ngathong was quoted as saying on Tuesday afternoon that the investigators had already arrived at the crash site.

Col Sirichan said a group of helicopters had departed the Army Aviation Centre in Lop Buri on a training flight to Nakhon Sawan.

As they went to land at the Kaset airstrip, one of them crashed, killing the flying instructor, Lt Col Panpong Banchongplian, and trainee Cpl Chanakorn Piamcharoen.