C-130 down in Mississippi-2017

a reply to: Salander

They were carrying small arms, and small arms ammunition, not HE. They transport HE on aircraft with just the flight crew on board, only very rarely do they allow passengers, even if they're going with it.

As for the civilian clothes, if you'd read farther, they travel as security, which also constitutes working, as well as traveling to places that aren't friendly to the US for meetings. You don't want to be in uniform for either of those.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I too was surprised about HE possibly being onboard, but several news accounts mention witness accounts of rumbling explosions as the plane descended. And most are in agreement that there were 2 debris fields, separated by about a mile.

20000 feet to the surface with the airframe already broken in two. That is a most unusual set of facts for such a dependable platform as the Hercules.

Being a military accident we will probably never really know what actually happened.

a reply to: Salander

They had quite a bit of ammunition, as well as other things that would make a rumbling sound. Two debris fields, with mostly intact sections of aircraft in each is evidence of an aircraft breaking apart in flight, not one that had an on board explosion of HE.

originally posted by: Salander

Being a military accident we will probably never really know what actually happened.

In my experience you find out more about what happened because it is a military aircraft. That is one of features of their safety programs. Find out what happened and get the word out so that people know what to look for to prevent it from happening again.

As I mentioned earlier catostrophic airframe failure can sound like an explosion.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Right, so my question is, and maybe you will know it, how many others of the type have had a similar accident?

My bet: ZERO

I do recall the footage of an old A model type fighting fires out west and pulling 1 G too many with both wings folding. Fuselage stayed intact, but both wings snapped very near the root.

a reply to: Salander
Also due to the vicious updraught from the fire too I believe..A few seconds of sheer terror before impact..

a reply to: Salander

So if it's never happened before, it can't happen? Interesting world you live in.

Nothing happens until something happens..

a reply to: Blackfinger

There's always a first time. This was a 24 year old aircraft that had been through much hard use. The C-130 has had several gearbox related problems, along with other issues that could have lead to a prop separating and cutting into the fuselage, or catastrophic engine failure that damaged the fuselage, or the stab, or god only knows what else.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Salander

So if it's never happened before, it can't happen? Interesting world you live in.

I did not say that, and no that's not the world I live in.

Not to change the subject, but TWA800 seems relevant.

I'm saying that if a Herc has never had an accident like this in the 5 or 6 decades it's been flying under really tough conditions, this is not likely simply a mechanical failure, too many cycles, whatever.

As we learn of mechanical issues on a type, Airworthiness Directives are issued so that the rest of the fleet can be made aware and improved.

God only knows how many hours the Herc has accumulated, but I don't recall anything like this. I'm civilian, so I might not have heard of it. I'm rather hoping you military types can offer some insight in that regard.

a reply to: Salander

The C-130 fleet has had multiple issues over the years that could lead to them breaking up in flight. They haven't had one break up like this, but there have been at least two that broke up when a wing separated. Both were due to maintenence performed recently on the aircraft. In this case the evidence is that one engine, almost certainly #3 separated in flight.

It's not clear why, or how, but something damaged the right horizontal stabilizer, while leaving the entire aft fuselage and most of the wing intact, while causing one engine and the forward fuselage top separate. This aircraft did not explode in flight though, that much is clear.

I took a good look at some of the pictures of the wreckage, while it was still burning. The left wing looks off, and it looks like both stabilizers were damaged.



There's a big chunk of wing missing off the left wing.

a reply to: Zaphod58

dang i hate reading stuff like this. i only got to page 3.5 or 4. Did the confirm KIA. i hope there wasn't 8 or 9 guys on there. super sad and shocking for this aircraft to crash like this.


if it was a HE detonation you would think the body would be ripped to pieces and that clearly is not the case

a reply to: penroc3

There were 16 killed on board. Six of them were Raiders on their way to Yuma for predeployment training with the rest of their team. One was a Navy Corpsman that was part of the team. The other nine were from Stewart AFB, where the aircraft was from.

An HE detonation should have completely destroyed the aircraft. This aircraft, even with two debris fields, was largely intact.

The problem is worse than they thought. It just broke through the EAA that all US C-130s are grounded, worldwide.

originally posted by: Zaphod58


So if it's never happened before, it can't happen? Interesting world you live in.

It was human error by the crew that caused the accident.

a reply to: Xtrozero

According to what I was seeing, and hearing, it was a mechanical issue. I can't think of any human error that could cause a wing to break, and that's what it looks like they're seeing.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
The problem is worse than they thought. It just broke through the EAA that all US C-130s are grounded, worldwide.

This was a J model right? Outside the resemblance as a C-130 the J model has basically nothing in common with the other models.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Used to catch hops on these guys, back when I was in the Air Force.

The one thing we never worried about with this guys were their track record for safety, even if they went down, which was very rare at the time.

a reply to: Xtrozero

No, it was a T model.