Jump to content

Another military aircraft crash - C-130 down in GA


Recommended Posts

Wow! This hits home. Any survivors? My older brother was a

C-130E maintainer back in the early 70s, it was a pretty reliable

airframe. When do we make the military great again? Condolences

to the families that lost people in this sad accident.---John

Link to post
Share on other sites
14 minutes ago, john53 said:

Wow! This hits home. Any survivors? My older brother was a

C-130E maintainer back in the early 70s, it was a pretty reliable

airframe. When do we make the military great again? Condolences

to the families that lost people in this sad accident.---John

 

PR ANG C-130 with a crew of 5.   I'm sure there will be much more info soon but from the pics that are hitting the news, there isn't much left of the aircraft.   Hopefully they got out before it burned. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I heard there it was confirmed that two have died.  Don’t know about the rest though.  Looks like the plane was an WC-130H serial number 65-0968 from the PRANG’s 156th AW. 

 

Article with updates. 

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/20590/puerto-rico-national-guard-wc-130h-hurricane-hunter-crashes-in-a-ball-of-fire-in-georgia

Edited by achterkirch
Link to post
Share on other sites

2 Herc fatal crashes within a year.  Extremely unusual.   Had (many) more fatalities from aircraft mishaps than we’ve had in combat in the last couple of years.   

 

Condolences to the families.   

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, achterkirch said:

I heard there it was confirmed that two have died.  Don’t know about the rest though.  Looks like the plane was an WC-130H serial number 65-0968 from the PRANG’s 156th AW. 

 

Interesting that prang is an old informal aviation term for crash.

Link to post
Share on other sites

If indeed it is a Puerto Rico ANG aircraft I wonder if heavy recent use, if that aircraft was involved in these missions, could become a factor.see:
 

Quote

 

  • Oct. 13, 2017
  • News
  • By Air Force Tech. Sgt. Daniel Heaton, 156th Airlift Wing

"SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico --

For all the airlift missions that the pilots and the loadmasters of the 198th Airlift Squadron have planned over the years, there is one major difference between those and the ones they are scheduling now as the Puerto Rico Air National Guard's representatives to Hurricanes Irma and Maria relief efforts on the island.

"We worked 14 days straight on Hurricane Katrina. That was hard. This is far harder. This is us," said Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Raul Vidal, noncommissioned officer in charge of current operations for the 198th.

...

'Large, Complex Mission'

"This is such a large, complex mission; it is multiple sorties every day to bring food and water -- and our main priority is just that -- [airlifting] food and water to the islands. We are working to coordinate every flight to maximize the relief efforts that can be brought in," said Air Force Lt. Col. Evanisto Orengo, a C-130 pilot and the commander of the 198th Airlift Squadron.

"We are working very closely, not just with multiple units of the Air Force, but also with the Army and the Navy and Marine Corps, with the civilian agencies, to coordinate all this movement," Orengo said. "All my experience as an airlift planner, all my experience as an airlift pilot is being put to use in this mission."

 

 

https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1341846/puerto-rico-air-national-guard-helps-to-build-air-bridge/

Link to post
Share on other sites

I worked a Hercs too. In the time I worked them we lost five airframes and lost a lot of good people.

 

The accident reminds me of a runaway elevator trim issue we had a modification for in the 80’s.

 

So sad to see. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I worked on 568 (MET/ARE) while it was a WC-130H at Keesler and also I think when it was TDY to Guam. The weather equipment has since been removed, but as I guess most of the other HC-130Hs were modded for Special Ops, the old WC-130Hs may still be referred to WC-130Hs and not HC-130Hs or C-130Hs. 

At Keesler, you could still see the painted over red (arctic) on the nose from its days in Alaska. 71st ARRS.

 

Thoughts and prayers to the families.

 

Grant

Edited by gmat
Link to post
Share on other sites

NY news last night said there were 9 on board that die and the plane was just overhauled at the base.  Plane was being picked up and flown out west for training exercises.

 

Not sure how accurate the tv news is but the video showed the plane looking like it lost power and then rolled into a nose dive.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Friend of mine that works in the C-130/C-17 offices said that it was headed to the bone yard.

 

My condolences to the families.

Edited by Wolfgun33
Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, Spectre711 said:

NY news last night said there were 9 on board that die and the plane was just overhauled at the base.  Plane was being picked up and flown out west for training exercises.

 

Not sure how accurate the tv news is but the video showed the plane looking like it lost power and then rolled into a nose dive.

 

TV reports are rarely accurate as is losing all four engines on a Herc. This looks similar to a serious incident we encountered in the CAF. If it is the portion of the aircraft that survived has that component.

Edited by Scooby
Link to post
Share on other sites

65-0958 started as an HC-130H and was modified to a WC-130H in the early 70s and had the weather equipment  removed when the WC-130Js replaced it. 

 

Grant 

 

I said it was 568 above, but I was wrong.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Back in the 70s I was at Little Rock and there was a rash of Herk crashes.  We lost at least two of ours.  In the end they said that the control cables broke and the flight deck lost any ability to maneuver.  They just smashed into the ground.

Funny thing about a Herk, usually the tail will snap off at the paratroop door because there isn't much metal there.  One of the wrecks caused the tail to snap on impact and go its merry way. When the rest of the aircraft hit, the exposed cargo deck acted like a cannon and the explosion shot at least one crew member out 

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 6 months later...

Incident report is in.  Pilot error coupled with some pretty egregious maintenance mistakes.   Aircraft lost it's #1 engine (which had been problematic for quite a while, yet never addressed) on take off.  Pilot didn't follow prescribed procedures, aircraft stalled and spun in.   Truly a preventable waste of lives.  Hopefully the AF will take all needed corrective actions. 

 

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/11/13/maintenance-errors-preceded-horrific-wc-130-crash-killed-9.html

Link to post
Share on other sites

That power plant has been on the dynos since 1953, or even later 1952. I'd suspect that by now it's almost 100% debugged. The airframe has been around since 1954, with many upgrades. It should be pretty much fool proof by now!

      I still remember my first ride in one like it was yesterday. I sat in the canvas seat thinking we're going down at any moment from all the noise alone! When we landed in Chu Lai, I kissed the ground! Six weeks later I was headed up to Phu Bai, and I had a bad feeling from the get go. We landed, and that shot the plane to pieces. Holes big enough to put you fist thru, and there must have been twenty. Shorts were CBL'd, and we actually drug the ramp on the way out! Flew out to sea, and back home with our tails tween our legs! That plane is built like a tank.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...