ENTERPRISE, Ala. (WDHN) — A procession left Huntsville around 2:00 p.m. this afternoon transporting the two pilots who died in Wednesday’s Black Hawk Helicopter crash near Redstone Arsenal.
The guardsmen were escorted by law enforcement to Searcy Funeral Home in Enterprise.
They’re expected to arrive at Searcy sometime around 7:00 p.m. where their bodies will be prepared for flight.
Members of the Patriot Guard and American Legion plan to be there and stand the flag line in honor of the guardsmen.
Other members of the community also may be lining the street In honor of the aviators.
From Enterprise the bodies will be taken to Pensacola for a flight to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Any U.S. Soldier killed is taken to Dover as standard procedure. The Armed Forces Medical Examiner will perform autopsies. The two Tennessee Guardsmen killed are Chief Warrant Officer 3 Daniel Wadham from Joelton, and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Danny Randolph from Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
They were flying a UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter on a training flight approaching the Huntsville Executive Airport when it started to rapidly descend and then hit the ground.
Witnesses say the chopper was coming down dangerously close to homes in the area. They say the pilot died a hero by diverting the aircraft away from any homes or cars.
Nobody on the ground was hurt when the helicopter crashed and burned in the median of Highway 53 in the unincorporated community of Harvest in Madison County.
A safety investigation team from the Army’s Combat Readiness Center headquartered at Fort Rucker will be leading the investigation into the accident.
It’s normally the lead investigating agency when the findings of an accident could have a wide impact.
Both crewmen were experienced pilots assigned to a Helicopter Battalion from Nashville’s Berry Field Air National Guard base each with more than a dozen years of experience.