Apache Helicopters Grounded

W A S H I N G T O N, June 28 -- The U.S. Army is conducting a safety inspection of the tail rotors on its entire fleet of 743 Apache helicopters as a precaution after an incidentinvolving an Israeli Apache, an Army spokesman said today.

"This action is a precautionary result of an Israeli AH-64Aaircraft incident where the tail rotor head assembly separatedfrom the aircraft in flight," spokesman Thomas Collins said.

Collins said each inspection would take about 30 minutesand would determine whether the tail rotor needed to bereplaced. He could not say when the inspections began or howlong they would take to complete.

"We're trying to accomplish the inspection as quickly aspossible, but we also have to be as thorough as possiblebecause the safety of our soldiers is of paramount importance,"he said.

Flight Mishap Sparks Grounding

Collins said the tail rotor on the Israeli helicopter cameapart during a flight on June 11. The aircraft landed safely atan Israeli air base, he said, adding that an investigation wasunder way to determine the cause of that incident.

The AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, built by Boeing Co.,have been grounded twice before, both times to checkpotentially dangerous tail rotor problems. The tail rotorcontrols the aircraft's ability to turn left or right.

The fleet was grounded in December 2000 after the discoveryof a faulty tail rotor "swashplate" assembly and in November1999 after the Army found suspect rotor bearings andtransmission problems following crashes.

Six Army Apaches crashed in 1999. Army officials saidinvestigators found that a heating process used by Boeing tomake the bearing assembly extra hard led to stress corrosionfractures in the bearings.