C-130 down in Mississippi-2017

originally posted by: Zaphod58

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.

I was told by someone who read the initial report but could not talk about it. I asked whether mechanical or human factors were involved and he said human factors.

I have a little over 5000 hours on E, Super E, H-1, H-3 and I can not think of anything to cause a C-130 at cruise 20,000 feet to go into a flat spin. I was thinking maybe a turbine blew and large chunks went into the wing but even with that there is foam in the wings.

It seems they had an engine problem, but I shut down dozens of engines with zero issues.

One problem we were seeing with the J model was that it is so automatic that pilots would lose basic flying skills and would get Q3 for those on no notice evaluations. At Little Rock the wing commander ordered all locals with J models will be done manually due to this.

I'm thinking a bad engine focused the crew on a problem that led to a stall that wasn't controlled right. This is a big IF but everything looks like a big IF. It would take tremendous Gs to break a wing and only human factor could do that.

a reply to: Xtrozero

There had to be something that disrupted either the airflow over the wing, and caused an over reaction, or damaged the wing initially more than they thought and put them into a situation where they couldn't recover.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Xtrozero

No, it was a T model.

So basically a H3. 1992 -1996 era of production. Disregard the J post..hehe

Hard to say even more with this...

originally posted by: Zaphod58

There had to be something that disrupted either the airflow over the wing, and caused an over reaction, or damaged the wing initially more than they thought and put them into a situation where they couldn't recover.

At cruise 20,000 ft not really a high stress situation. Especially for a H3 that in the Air Force flies tactical 300-500 feet AGL pulling 60 degree and 2gs all day long. This being a T is just point to point hauler. The fire on the ground showed the wings burning but the fuselage was not in fire.

a reply to: Xtrozero

It also showed a large portion of the outer left wing missing, and both stabilizers damaged.

It looks like it might be specific aircraft that are grounded. There are 8 aircraft flying now over the US, including H models.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Xtrozero

It also showed a large portion of the outer left wing missing, and both stabilizers damaged.

It looks like it might be specific aircraft that are grounded. There are 8 aircraft flying now over the US, including H models.

Sounds like they somehow pulled heavy Gs in some kind of wrong correction.

Is it a total grounding or only the Marine T version?Im hearing conflicting reports...

a reply to: Blackfinger

It's only some aircraft. There were 6 H models, 3 J models, and two U model gunships flying after the announcement. The only source I've seen so far is from the EAA mentioning the Blue Angels aircraft, so I'm guessing just the T models.

ETA: It's the 12 T models from VMGR-452, the same unit the crashed aircraft was from (they're the last 12 T models) and Fat Albert from the Blues.

ETA: It's the 12 T models from VMGR-452, the same unit the crashed aircraft was from (they're the last 12 T models) and Fat Albert from the Blues.

Being from the one unit looks like they are looking at maintenance units first.

a reply to: Blackfinger

They're the only ones still flying the T model, besides the one airframe used by the Blues. There are only 12 left. The rest have transitioned to the J model.

The grounding was lifted. There's a KC-130T heading off the coast in the LA area.

Just had a thought,did the load shift inflight,causing a massive COG change?

a reply to: Blackfinger

Possibly, but I suspect from the grounding that they're looking at a human reaction to a mechanical problem that occurred in flight.

Still no official word on the cause of this crash, but I ran across an entry in an accident database that caught my attention. In 2015, the same unit this aircraft belonged to had an unspecified KC-130T suffer damage to the rudder and vertical fin during a rudder removal during maintenance.

The report hasn't been released yet, but rumor going around is that the accident will be found to be consistent with sudden, catastrophic structural failure while at cruising altitude, as expected.

a reply to: Zaphod58
And a good look at maintenance logs I hope..At cruise there should be very little loads on an aircraft structure.

a reply to: Blackfinger

There have been cases in the past where a component was previously damaged, and either missed, or the repair was insufficient, and it failed under very light loading.

Why regular maintenance must be taken and logged.

a reply to: Blackfinger

Depends on where the failure point was. It might have been in a Depot level component.

originally posted by: Blackfinger
a reply to: Zaphod58
And a good look at maintenance logs I hope..At cruise there should be very little loads on an aircraft structure.

Or, the ship might have been overloaded.

Or, a really old airframe, similar to what happened in Savannah some months back.