Army Apache Stand Down

Pilots Were First U.S. Soldiers To Die In Air War

(CBS)  The Army Thursday ordered a 24-hour stand down for the Apache helicopters following a deadly crash in Albania that killed two U.S. pilots.

Chief warrant officers David Gibbs of Ohio and Kevin Reichert of Wisconsin were the first U.S. servicemen to die in the six-week-old NATO air campaign.

The army said it wants to give pilots a chance to catch their breath. There have been two crashes involving the Apache gun ships in the Balkans in just over a week.

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials said the crashes won't stop plans to use the gun ships for combat in Yugoslavia. The military insisted the $14.5-million machine is sound.

As CBS News Correspondent David Martin reports, the crash has raised new questions about the Apaches' planned mission in Kosovo:

The Apache was on a routine night-training mission when, according to initial reports, it hit a power line, always a risk when flying low in darkness. It was the second Apache to crash in Albania, but this time the two pilots did not escape.

They are billed as the best-trained aviation unit in the U.S. Army, but the Apaches took longer than advertised to get to Albania and now two have gone down without firing a shot in anger.

(AP) A U.S. Army Apache helicopter

Even before the latest crash, the Pentagon was having second thoughts about sending the choppers into combat. One senior officer says the added firepower does not justify the risk of flying low and slow over Kosovo.

In recent days, fighter jets have started flying lower. But over the weekend, an A-10 combat jet, which flies much higher and faster than an Apache, had the cowling shot off one of its engines.

Because helicopter missions are high risk, Pentagon officials say the first army units to join the battle may not be the Apaches, but ground-based missile launchers that would fire from positions well inside Albania.

CBS News Military Consultant Perry Smith, a retired Air Force major general, says the Pentagon ordered the grounding of the Apaches operating in Albania following the fatal crash.

But a spokesman for the U.S. task force that includes the Apaches said the crash would not affect training or the still-secret schedule for deploying the heavily armed helicopters in combat. "This will not hinder the timeline. There's no delay, no aircraft grounded," said Lt. Col. Garrie Dornan.