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C5 crashes near Dover AFB
ABC News | 04/03/2006

Posted on 04/03/2006 5:10:20 AM PDT by Trust but Verify

No details per ABC radio


TOPICS: Breaking News; US: Delaware
KEYWORDS: c5; doverafb; planecrash; usaf
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To: Moose4

C-5 crashes near Dover; injuries reported
By JEFF MONTGOMERY
The News Journal

04/03/2006
DOVER — At least 17 people were on board a C-5 that crashed into a field near Dover Air Force Base at 6:30 this morning, and some have been taken to area hospitals, base officials said.

The C-5 jet transport broke into at least three pieces, coming to rest on land east of Del. 9 near Kitts Hummock Road.

Other information those injured in the crash is unavailable.

“I didn’t hear anything. The planes pretty much sound like they’re landing in my back yard all the time,” said Tammy Powell, who lives along Kitts Hummock Road just south of the base. “Especially when they’re coming in from the south.”

Powell said she could see the site of the crash from her back yard.

“The tail’s completely gone. It’s farther behind the plane. I can see part of the fuselage and the wing,” Powell said. “There’s no smoke at all.”

All routes to the crash site were blocked this morning. Del. 9 east of Dover is closed. Motorists wanting to avoid the area may want to take U.S. 113.

Some witnesses said they saw the plane go down nose first.

The accident is the worst ever in the United States for the C-5, the nation's largest military transport. One of the big jets crashed in Germany during the buildup for the first war in Iraq. Another crashed during the American pullout from Vietnam.


161 posted on 04/03/2006 6:43:55 AM PDT by Gabz (Smokers are the beta version)
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To: leadpenny
I'm a pilot and couldn't get over their size.

Me too. Never flown in one, though. Back in college I was working a construction job. You know, the kind of job that Americans don't want to do anymore. We were working on an apartment building off the approach end of of the runway at Dobbins AFB in Marietta, GA, which is near the then Lockheed plant where the C-5 was built. One particular day a C-5 was doing pattern circuits and I just happened to be working on the roof of this particular building all day. I can tell you that not only does the sky darken when one of these puppies flys over, but the ground shakes, too. One awesome piece of machinery......the modern version of "aluminum overcast"....

162 posted on 04/03/2006 6:47:03 AM PDT by Thermalseeker
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To: Gabz
I took this picture last year on March 20th of snowgeese in a field about 10 miles (guessing) from Dover AFB on the NJ side of the Delaware Bay shore. In this pic theres around 5,000 snowgeese in field......
CLICK HERE
163 posted on 04/03/2006 6:47:21 AM PDT by Mr Fowl
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To: Gabz
for the snow and Canada geese.

I am so glad you said that. I live in Delaware and my first thought was the thousands and thousands of snow geese now migrating here. Don't know if that was the cause but there are so many it's like living snow.

Then I thought...Nah...a bird wouldn't bring down a big plane like that. But these birds are everywhere right now.

164 posted on 04/03/2006 6:48:32 AM PDT by Fishtalk
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To: A.A. Cunningham
Problem with #2 shortly after takeoff, emergency declared, attempted to return to Dover, crashed on approach.

Right, no argument there. But it would take time to dump fuel. That means time to contact the PAO and get assets in place for emergency landing.

165 posted on 04/03/2006 6:49:36 AM PDT by Coop (Proud founding member of GCA - Gruntled Conservatives of America)
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To: r9etb
The story said something about losing its "second engine"...I was wondering about that, because if it only lost one engine, I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't be able to make it around and land.

If it lost two engines--especially if they were on the same wing? I'm even more stunned the pilot was able to get it down in that field more-or-less intact.

And this explains why the Air Force doesn't usually mess around with flocks of birds:

Boeing E-3B Sentry 77-0354 was military Boeing 707-derivative, a.o. equipped and AWACS system. The aircraft, operated by the US Air Force 962nd Airborne Air Control Sqn, 3rd Wing, was assigned call-sign Yukla 27 for a 6.2 hr training mission. At 07:43 Yukla 27 was holding short of runway 5, waiting for takeoff, when a Lockheed Hercules departed. This aircraft disturbed a flock of Canada geese. The Yukla 27 crew were not warned about this by the tower controller. At 07:45 they were cleared for takeoff and the throttles were advanced. As the plane rotated for lift-off numerous geese were ingested in the no. 1 and 2 engines resulting in a catastrophic no. 2 engine failure and a stalling no. 1 engine. The crew initiated a slow climbing turn to the left and began to dump fuel. The aircraft attained a maximum altitude of 250 feet before it started to descend. The plane impacted a hilly, wooded area less than a mile from the runway, broke up, exploded and burned.

From aviation-safety.net, link here.

}:-)4

166 posted on 04/03/2006 6:49:52 AM PDT by Moose4 ("I will shoulder my musket and brandish my sword/In defense of this land and the word of the Lord")
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To: Thermalseeker

When I went to the Armed Forces Day airshow at Andrews AFB back in the late '80s, they were using a C-5 as the "gate". You walked through it or under it to get to the tarmac and the rest of the static exhibits. I remember it being flanked by (I think) a KC-10 and a C-141, and it made them both look puny.

I've never seen one fly but friends who have seen them tell me they have a very distinct sound, like nothing else in the inventory.

}:-)4


167 posted on 04/03/2006 6:53:34 AM PDT by Moose4 ("I will shoulder my musket and brandish my sword/In defense of this land and the word of the Lord")
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To: all4one

The circle indicates the location of the tail section from the crash site.

That's where you'll find the 'Tailees'. ;)

Sorry, couldn't resist the 'Lost' reference!

168 posted on 04/03/2006 6:53:54 AM PDT by Dr._Joseph_Warren
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To: leadpenny

The C-5 crash outside of Ramstein AB, Germany happened during the buildup to Desert Gulf Storm in 1990, as I remember. We lost 13 of the 17 crew. God bless our fighting men and women!


169 posted on 04/03/2006 6:55:54 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
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To: Mr Fowl

Except for you stating where you took that picture it could have been taken in many, many areas around the base.


170 posted on 04/03/2006 6:57:22 AM PDT by Gabz (Smokers are the beta version)
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To: Gabz

I became acquainted with the Loadmaster that was on the C-5 that crashed in Vietnam. The rear pressure door blew out severing controls to the tail. After getting the AC turned using engine power, the pilot attempted to land but the AC was "porpoising" and impacted in a rice paddy about 9 miles short of the runway. They bounced over the Saigon River, impacted again and slid for a long distance. Most in the upper deck survived but many on the lower cargo deck perished. If you remember, this was a Operation Babylift flight so the passengers were orphans being evacuated from Vietnam. Needless to say, that was a heartbreaking experience for crew and all involved.


171 posted on 04/03/2006 6:59:18 AM PDT by Ben Hecks
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To: Moose4
C-5 engines have a very distinctive high-pitched whine/whistle that no other plane in the inventory has.

Another distinctive sound is the KC-135 when it is using the water-injection system on takeoff -- they will shake the entire flight line area as they take off, plus leave a trail of black smoke down the runway that is amazing looking.

172 posted on 04/03/2006 7:02:44 AM PDT by commish (Freedom Tastes Sweetest to Those Who Have Fought to Preserve It)
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To: Heatseeker

KGH spokeswoman said 14 people were brought there..........NONE have life threatening injuries. In fact many walked off the ambulances on their own accord.


173 posted on 04/03/2006 7:02:59 AM PDT by Gabz (Smokers are the beta version)
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To: Fishtalk

It doesn't take much to wreck a jet engine. A bird of any size getting sucked into those turbines moving at tens of thousands of RPM will trash the fans.

Google "bird strike" for some pretty scary pictures of what can happen when plane meets bird. Airports are usually very concerned about flocks of birds near their boundaries and take steps to drive them off (noisemakers, dogs, etc.).

Of course, then there's the picture I saw over the weekend of what happens when a King Air hits a deer with the right propeller. Ain't pretty.

}:-)4


174 posted on 04/03/2006 7:04:07 AM PDT by Moose4 ("I will shoulder my musket and brandish my sword/In defense of this land and the word of the Lord")
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To: Gabz

Yep! It's basicly the same all around the Dover area. It's like that in NJ and In Delaware around Dover AFB.


175 posted on 04/03/2006 7:05:08 AM PDT by Mr Fowl
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To: Gabz
Awesome news, let's pray the ones taken to the trauma center (that would leave 3) will also recover fully.

My guess is the load master and his crew are the 3 more seriously injured. Chances are they may have been on the lower decks when she went in. Looks like the Flight deck and passenger compartments probably came through ok.

176 posted on 04/03/2006 7:05:54 AM PDT by commish (Freedom Tastes Sweetest to Those Who Have Fought to Preserve It)
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To: Gabz

Just saw that too. I saw an earlier report that the seriously wounded had been flown to Christiana.


177 posted on 04/03/2006 7:08:17 AM PDT by Heatseeker (Never underestimate the left's tendency to underestimate us.)
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To: Ben Hecks
If you remember, this was a Operation Babylift flight so the passengers were orphans being evacuated from Vietnam. Needless to say, that was a heartbreaking experience for crew and all involved.

I do recall it and it was a heartbreak.

178 posted on 04/03/2006 7:08:50 AM PDT by Ditto
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To: Mr Fowl

Actually it's that way all over DelMarVa. On the VA side of Assateague Island there is a pond aptly named Snow Goose pond.............at times it literally looks like the water is covered in snow.


179 posted on 04/03/2006 7:08:53 AM PDT by Gabz (Smokers are the beta version)
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To: Coop

Contacting PAO is low on the list of priorities when handling an inflight emergency.


180 posted on 04/03/2006 7:09:08 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
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