Holloman continues their investigation of crash on WSMR

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE – Holloman Air Force Base (HAFB) officials continue their investigation of an aircraft crash after an A-29 Super Tucano crashed over the Red Rio Bombing Range on White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) around 11:30 a.m. Friday, according to a HAFB press release.  

One aircrew member was airlifted to an area hospital for treatment of the crew member’s minor injuries, the release states. A second aircrew member’s information will be released when it becomes available, according to the release.

The Daily News attempted to seek further comment and details about the crash or second crew member but Holloman officials declined comment due to the ongoing investigation of the crash.

The Super Tucano crashed during a training flight that’s part of the Air Force’s Light Attack Experiment.

MORE:Holloman officials: Aircraft crashes on White Sands Missile Range

According to the release, no cause of the accident has been determined at this time because the crash is currently under investigation.

The Red Rio Bombing Range is an active Air Force facility that encompasses about 196,000 acres on WSMR, about 65 miles north of Holloman Air Force Base.

Fire and police units from the White Sands Missile Range Directorate of Emergency Services initially responded to the crash, the release states.

The Red Rio Bombing Range is part of WSMR’s open air test range that’s a U.S. Army installation and the Department of Defense’s largest.

The aircraft crash canceled a planned U.S. Air Force’s Light Attack Experiment exercise in Alamogordo that was to begin Friday afternoon. The Air Force planned to conduct two exercises that were scheduled for between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. then a second flight exercise was scheduled for between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. Both exercises were canceled due to the crash on WSMR’s Red Rio Bombing Range.

Alamogordo Police Department was supposed to assist Holloman Air Force Base personnel with the exercise.

The exercise was part of the ground portion of the Light Attack Experiment that kicked off the Air Force’s second phase of testing at Holloman in May after the first phase was conducted in 2017.

MORE:Alamogordo assists Holloman with military exercise

The experiment was looking at the capabilities of propeller-driven Sierra Nevada/Embraer A-29 Super Tucano and the Textron Aviation AT-6B Wolverine aircrafts over a three-month period.

The Alamogordo exercise was to test the aircrafts’ systems with no weapons on board or any weapons were to be deployed during the exercise.

The Air Force’s exercise was to see if adding a low-cost attack aircraft to the Air Force’s inventory could help improve their readiness by decreasing demand on high-performance aircraft in certain combat situations.