Military Cargo Plane Crashes

[David]

A military cargo plane carrying 17 people crashed near Dover Air Force base early Monday, officials said. There was no immediate word on fatalities.

The C-5 cargo plane, the military's largest, went down about 6:45 a.m., said Allen Metheny, assistant director in the state Department of Public Safety.

He said some people were taken to hospitals with injuries, but he did not have numbers or details of the extent of the injuries. BayHealth in Dover said the hospital received about 10 people from the crash site, including some who appeared able to walk, spokeswoman Pam Marecki said.

The plane broke into three pieces, with the cockpit separated from the fuselage and a wing shattered.

According to initial reports, it had just taken off and had some indications of a problem, said Col. Kate Haddock, spokeswoman at the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff. It turned back to land and fell short of the runway, she said.

Maj. Ange Keskey of the Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois confirmed 17 people were aboard and said the crash is being investigated.

The C-5 Galaxy, made by Lockheed Martin, is 247 feet long and can carry more than 200,000 pounds of cargo non-stop for 2,500 miles at jet speeds. The military uses the giant planes to transport trucks, tanks, helicopters and even smaller planes.

[82Rigger]

Do I remember correctly that in the past there have been problems with nesting birds near Dover AFB?

Any of our Zoomies ever been stationed there? Jerry D?

Could the C5 have sucked in birds on takeoff?

[Jerry D]

I think if enough birds took off in front of the C5 it would FOD( foreign object damage) out the engines and cause them to stall. Birds nesting in the flight path could cause that situation. Just my opinion .

[SparrowHawk62]

The tail section of an Air Force C5 Galaxy cargo plane that crashed carrying 17 people just short of a runway at Dover Air Force Base Monday, April 3, 2006 in Dover, Del., is seen in a field near where the rest of the plane came down. The military cargo plane headed for Spain developed problems after takeoff and crashed trying to return to Dover Air Force Base early Monday, military officials said. All 17 people aboard survived, though several were injured. (AP Photo/Chris Gardner)

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.


Thought this happened upon the crafts landing. Still would/could be subjected to a FOD out either way. I also thought I heard that there were no fatalities!
In the event of a FOD out wouldn't this craft have enough engine power to land anyway, (also take into consideration that may have been on an approach)?
Keep em' in the skies guys, I live way to close to Stewart AFB to have these things landing in my back yard!

[Jerry D]

It happend on Take off thats all I have heard so far.

[Jerry D]

This from one of our instructors on the C5 crash at Dover AFB:

Hi All,
This has really turned fascinating. A good buddy of mine was a Stan _Eval guy in the wing at Dover and still has connections. He gave me the current skinny on the crash--none of it official--until the board says so

It was not a bird ingestion but a "thrust reverser unlock" on the #2 engine that started this. They lost a C-5 with all aboard a few years back in Germany for the same cause. This crew however shut down the engine before an actual unstow took place. The airplane was well over 700K gross weight with FOB of over 300K. The airplane had the newest version of the C-5 flight deck with big panel glass. Unfortunately, only one of the three pilots was really comfortable with the new equipment and FMS.

The crew decided because of their weight to fly their approach to the longest runway, which unfortunately was only being served that day by a Tacan (fancy VOR for you civilian types) approach. They also decided to fly a full flap approach to keep the approach speed down. This isn't prohibited--just highly discouraged. The recommended flap setting for a three engine approach is Flaps 40. During the approach the crew became worried about not having enough power to fly a full flap approach and selected flaps 40--which they were now too slow for. Here's the point all you glass cockpit guys should sit up and take notice about. The one guy who was familiar with the new glass and FMS was also the one flying the aircraft. He became distracted inputting the new approach speed in the FMS. There was also some confusion about just who was flying the A/C while he had his head down updating the speed. Long story short--they got way slow and into the shaker, and actually stuck the tail into the trees and it departed the aircraft first. The nose pitched down hard and the nose and left wing impacted next snapping off the nose. Several cockpit occupants suffered spinal compression injuries. The guys sitting at the crew table behind the cockpit actually came to a stop with their legs dangling out over the ground.

The miracle of this was the left outboard fuel tank was broken open and none of that fuel managed to find something hot enough to ignite it and the other 300k. Again, a bunch of very lucky people.

So, I guess there really is a reason we bitch at guys for hand flying and making their own MCP and FMS inputs.

The ride down those slides must have been a trip. I have heard that one slide emptied right into a big fuel spill so some of the folks were soaked in jet fuel.

I hope this fills in the gaps for you all on the recent C5 crash. This is all un-official, till the FAA says its so!

[82Rigger]

Thanks, Jerry!

Been awaiting the cause with great interest.

Now we're all a step ahead of the FAA and the NTSB!!

[Jerry D]

Yep, in the military it's always good to know someone who knows someone at most all of the bases and now that the Military is so much smaller it gets easier since the 90's troop cuts . I can't wait to read what the official report states caused the crash also.