Aircraft crashes kill 3 military members in U.S.

BOISE, Idaho -- The Defense Department will investigate the crash of an Idaho Army National Guard helicopter during a training mission Thursday that killed both people aboard, a military spokesman said.

Meanwhile, in Florida, Air Force officials said they recovered the remains of an F-16 fighter jet pilot from the Gulf of Mexico after another crash Thursday. A news release from Tyndall Air Force Base says efforts will now shift to collecting evidence to determine the cause of the accident.

The base said the airman won't be immediately identified, pending notification of family. No further details were immediately available.

An earlier statement said the jet was on a routine training mission over the Gulf on Thursday morning when the base in the Florida Panhandle lost contact with the pilot.

In Idaho, National Guard spokesman Col. Tim Marsano confirmed the deaths of the two male pilots but did not release any details on them pending notification of relatives.

"It's a very difficult evening for us in the Idaho National Guard," Marsano told CBS Boise affiliate KBOI-TV. "We don't know the reasons why -- we can't speculate at this point."

The Apache combat helicopter crashed around 7 p.m. Thursday about two miles south of the National Guard base at Gowen Field near Boise International Airport, Marsano said. It wasn't immediately clear whether the pilots were heading to or returning from a mission, he said.

Marsano said he didn't know whether any communication was heard from the helicopter prior to the crash. There was no fire, he said.

The Idaho Army National Guard had 16 Apache helicopters at its Gowen Field training base.

The Idaho Guard has a training area about 20 miles south of Gowen Field, but pilots also train over other areas, the spokesman said.

"The men and women of the Idaho National Guard are united in grief at the loss of two of our brothers in arms, who gave their lives while training to defend our nation," Maj. Gen. Gary Sayler, commander of the Idaho National Guard, said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with their families."

Boise firefighters initially responded to the crash but then turned the scene over to the National Guard, Fire Chief Dennis Doan said.

Ada County sheriff's deputies secured the site and blocked media access.