Posted on 09/13/2002 7:33:29 AM PDT by inquest
On September 13, 1997, a U.S. Air Force C-141 collided with a German Tupolev-154 over the South Atlantic, several hundred miles off the coast of Angola, killing all 33 on board both planes. The C-141 was on its way to Ascension Island for refueling before heading back to Maguire air base in New Jersey. Apparently (if my Italian skills are right; I'm getting this from an Italian newspaper), it had just dropped off mine-removal equipment to Namibia, where mines had been scattered over the countryside in its war of independence from South Africa. The Luftwaffe plane was carrying a group of German naval flag officers first-class to South Africa for that country's war fleet's 75th-anniversary festivities.
According to the report I read, both Bonn and Washington kept the incident under wraps for nearly 24 hours. In fact, it was the South Africans who first reported that something was up. Their air force was still keeping an eye on that region because of the simmering hostilities that were still going on. They said their radar registered a flash of a kind that often indicates a collision. At that point, the admissions from the Pentagon and its German counterpart, the Hardthoehe, began filtering out.
The newspaper sensibly asks, Why did Germany and America wait so long to acknoledge what had happened? (not that that's entirely not understandable) But more importantly, how is it that experienced pilots in broad daylight and ideal weather conditions (although lacking assistance from the ground) failed to acknowledge that they were on a collision course and make the appropriate corrections?
If any Freepers have any updates as to what happened then, It would be much appreciated.
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