Rudder blamed for Texas A&M chopper crash

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A rudder failure is being blamed for the fatal crash of a U.S. Army helicopter at Texas A&M University, school officials said Tuesday.

University officials said the apparently faulty rudder was what caused the Army UH-60 Blackhawk with a crew of five aboard to crash onto a drill field during a Reserve Officer Training Corps exercise Monday, killing one soldier, KCEN-TV, Temple, Texas, reported.

Another person on the ground was hit by debris from the helicopter, officials said. College Station Medical Center officials told KBTX-TV, College Station, Texas, that the Blackhawk's pilot, co-pilot and a crew member were taken there, with two listed in critical condition and the other in stable condition.

Texas A&M ROTC staff member Lt. Zachary Cook, a 2008 graduate who majored in mechanical engineering, has been identified as the soldier who died in the crash, KBTX-TV reported. The other soldiers on board the chopper were reportedly members of the Army National Guard.