Cargo plane crashes, burns on Elmendorf AFB, Alaska

Newsjock

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Wed Jul-28-10 11:11 PM
Original message

Cargo plane crashes, burns on Elmendorf AFB, Alaska

Source: Anchorage Daily News

A C-17 cargo plane crashed and burned on Elmendorf Air Force Base this evening, according to the Alaska National Guard.

The status and number of the crew was not immediately known, said Major Guy Hayes, a guard spokesman. Also not known was whether the crew was from the Guard or active Air Force.

A black plume of smoke was visible rising from the base starting about 6:45 p.m.

Read more: http://www.adn.com/2010/07/28/1385727/cargo-plane-reported-down-on-base.html

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PacerLJ35

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Wed Jul-28-10 11:12 PM
Response to Original message

1. Hope they survived...

I have a few friends flying C-17s at PAED.

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nadinbrzezinski

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Wed Jul-28-10 11:14 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. I'll join you

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PacerLJ35

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Wed Jul-28-10 11:19 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. Initial news is not good

Edited on Wed Jul-28-10 11:34 PM by PacerLJ35

There were reports of a fireball and the impact occurred a "couple miles into the woods", which indicates it wasn't a simple landing incident. The crash site appears to be the same woods that took the crew of Yukla 27, an E-3 AWACS aircraft that crashed due to ingesting birds, killing the entire crew about 15ish years ago.

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nadinbrzezinski

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Wed Jul-28-10 11:30 PM
Response to Reply #3

5. No, that is not good

RIP... most people do not survive fireballs.

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dgibby

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Wed Jul-28-10 11:26 PM
Response to Original message

4. Has anybody gotten any updates yet?

How many souls on board?

We have lots of C-17's flying out of Charleston(SC)AFB. They run daily missions to the ME.

So sad.:cry:

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PacerLJ35

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Wed Jul-28-10 11:36 PM
Response to Reply #4

8. Unsubstantiated, but came from military aviation forum...

4 souls on board, AKANG crew doing airshow practice for the upcoming Arctic Thunder airshow...all 4 fatal. Again, that report is entirely unofficial...I'm hoping it's wrong, but given witness accounts of a huge fireball, I'm afraid it's likely to be true.

Hope it's not a similar repeat of what happened during the Czar 52 B-52 crash at Fairchild AFB in 1994...over-banked the aircraft at low altitude and suffered an accelerated stall in that one.

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dgibby

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Wed Jul-28-10 11:45 PM
Response to Reply #8

9. Thanks. It sounds really bad.

As hard as it is to lose even 4, I'm just glad they weren't transporting a load of troops.

I was assigned to the Navy Hospitals at Beaufort,SC and Cherry Point,NC, both USMC Air Bases, and saw my share of crashes, one of which involved one of our Flight Surgeons. The plane developed engine trouble and the pilot and flight surgeon rode it as far as they could to avoid a populated area. By the time they wer able to bail out, it was too late. Believe me when I tell you that I do NOT miss those days at all.

My heart goes out to the families and friends.

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PacerLJ35

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Wed Jul-28-10 11:55 PM
Response to Reply #9

10. I have a couple friends who fly C-17s in Alaska

I think both are still active duty, so if it was a Guard crew it probably wasn't either of them, but you never know these days. I know plenty of others who flew C-17s and I'm hoping none of them had gotten out and gone to the AKANG. I am a former Army helicopter pilot as well and have already lost 6 of my former classmates in accidents...I'm lucky and have only known one guy while in the Air Force involved in a fatal mishap...he was a C-21 instructor, and he died while training a new copilot at Ellsworth AFB in 2002.

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dgibby

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Thu Jul-29-10 12:04 AM
Response to Reply #10

11. Hopefully, none of your friends were involved.

It's hard enough to lose any of them, but so much worse when you know them. Sending good vibes to you Pacer. :hug:

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Ken Burch

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Wed Jul-28-10 11:34 PM
Response to Original message

6. My sympathies to the families of the crew.

I still hope they might have survived, but it clearly doesn't sound good.

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krispos42

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Wed Jul-28-10 11:35 PM
Response to Original message

7. Shit.

:-(

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