Kid Rock, Pete Hegseth Take Apache Joyride Over VA, MD From Fort Belvoir

FORT BELVOIR, VA – Musician and White House favorite Kid Rock took a helicopter ride with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth this week, Hegseth confirmed on social media. The unusual ride on Monday originated from the same army base as the helicopter training flight that collided with a commercial airliner in January.

Publicly available flight information indicates that the two helicopters flew in a couple of loops around the Fort Belvoir area, flying over the Virginia city of Lorton and parts of Maryland, before landing.

In his post on X, the secretary suggested the ride was an early celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Fort Belvoir’s aviation component is the Davison Army Airfield, operated by the 12th Aviation Battalion. That battalion doesn’t appear to operate Apache helicopters – its focus is transit and rescue support and the base appears to use Sikorsky Black Hawk transit helicopters.

Military.com reports that four Apache helicopters had arrived at Fort Belvoir the weekend before Hegseth’s Monday joyride. Kid Rock appears to have taken his private plane from his Tennessee home and back the same day to participate.

The outlet also reports that the cost to operate an Apache is about $7,000 per hour, but that the figure might not represent an addition to routine operational costs, because flights tied to public events can serve as pilot training.

That Apache model is a two-seat helicopter usually operated by a pilot and a copilot. Grim reports that Hegseth and Kid Rock would have occupied the copilots’ seats.

The January 29 crash over the Potomac River that killed 67 people involved a Black Hawk helicopter on a training run from Fort Belvoir.

The response to the flight on social media was largely negative, with commenters wondering whether such a flight was legal or posed a security risk and complaining about wasting public funds.

Both Hegseth and Kid Rock were involved in another helicopter controversy in late March, when Army Apache helicopters from the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell did a flyby of Kid Rock’s home in Tennessee. The star shared a video of himself waving at the pilots and called it a sign of respect.

The Army opened an inquiry into the March 28 flight, but by March 31 the war secretary had declared it over.