[HoustonCurmudgeon]

How do you hit an aircraft with small arms, 22km from the airport? Don't they use a steep rate of climb to avoid these problems?

[eastforker]

I am surprised this kind of incident doesn't happen more often. A .50 caliber MG is still considered small arms but man can it do some damage.

[ASA Vet]

hit by small arms fire after taking off

was hit about 22km west of the airport

What altitude would a C-130 be 22km out from takeoff?
Still within small arms range?

[MarMema]

So, wasn't talked about in a post the other day, or am I wrong? The one with the reporter who met with the man who had taped the execution of the Italian hostage?

[End Times Sentinel]

Thank God it's only "insurgents" and "guerillas" doing this.  A terrorist would be a real problem.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[SheLion]

1 dead, Fox just reported. Plane made it back to the airport, but 1 dead.

[FReepaholic]

Hmmm...wonder if the "small arms fire" came from WITHIN the aircraft itself??

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

FoxNews now reporting that the plane is not USAF, but is from a foreign nation.

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A senior U.S. military official tells FOX News that a transport plane hit by small arms fire after taking off Sunday from Baghdad (search) was not an American plane, but rather belonged to a foreign nation.

At least one person was killed in the attack.

The aircraft took off at approximately 5:30 p.m. and was struck about 12 miles west of the airport, the officials said on condition of anonymity. It returned to Baghdad International Airport (search) and landed safely.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy operations chief, confirmed the attack but did not specify the exact location. Kimmitt told AP that "one of the personnel" aboard was wounded and later died. He did not say how many people were on the plane.

Pilots have in the past reported ground fire near the airport, located on the capital's western edge.

On Jan. 8, a C-5 transport plane with 63 passengers and crew limped safely back Baghdad's airport after being struck by fire from insurgents.

In December, guerrillas hit a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane with a surface-to-air missile shortly after it took off from Baghdad, causing the engine to explode. The plane returned to the airport and landed safely, with only one of the 16 people aboard slightly injured.

Link here.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

22 killometers is 13.67017 miles

I think they are talking distance from the airport as i dont think small arms can go 13 miles but i may be wrong !

[traumer]

Iraq will be an open wound for years and years....

[KangarooJacqui]

Seems you don't want to be flying out of Baghdad Airport these days...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1161372/posts

[Robert Lomax]

"insurgents"

I hate the word insurgents. Lets call them what they are...the phvkeen enemy!

[SheLion]

Prayer Wheel For Our Military - With Photos