Giant C-5 military jet crashes in Delaware
George
Monday, April 3, 2006 Posted: 1421 GMT (2221 HKT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An Air Force C-5 cargo jet carrying 17 people crashed
and broke into pieces Monday while trying to make an emergency landing near
Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Air Force and FAA officials said.
The condition of the crew was unknown, according to the Air Force.
Pentagon sources told CNN the aircraft "declared an in-flight emergency for
a No. 2 engine flameout."
The C-5 jet, assigned to the 436th Air Wing at Dover AFB, was being
operated by an Air National Guard unit, officials told CNN. (Watch how the
plane cracked into three pieces -- 1:10)
The C-5 Galaxy, the largest aircraft in the U.S. military inventory, came
down short of the runway at Dover about 6:30 a.m., the officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane had taken off from Dover
and crashed while attempting to return.
Allen Metheny, assistant director in the Delaware Department of Public
Safety, said some people were taken to hospitals with injuries, according
to The Associated Press.
Television images showed the plane had broken into at least three pieces,
with the cockpit separated at a right angle from the rest of the fuselage.
The broken-off tail assembly was several hundred yards away, AP reported.
The military has 126 C-5s in its active and reserve inventory, according
the Air Force's official Web site.
According to the Web site, globalsecurity.org, the crash was the fourth in
the history of the C-5, which entered service in 1970. Three of the planes
have been destroyed in ground fires.
The most famous of the C-5 crashes occurred in April 1975, when one of the
giant jets carrying orphans out of Vietnam went down while trying to make
an emergency landing in Saigon after a door lock failed in flight. The
crash killed 138 of the 314 aboard, including 127 children, according to
globalsecurity.org.
The C-5 can carry 270,000 pounds of cargo almost 2,500 miles on one load of
fuel. The C-5's wingspan is 28 feet wider than a 747 and the military jet
is 16 feet longer than the civilian airliner.
Mr.G
"George" <geo...@wtfiswrongwithyou.com> wrote in message
news:omaYf.78341$oL.72464@attbi_s71...
> http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/04/03/c5.crash/
>
> Monday, April 3, 2006 Posted: 1421 GMT (2221 HKT)
>
> WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An Air Force C-5 cargo jet carrying 17 people crashed
I heard from work today that they think everyone lived.
But the pictures show the area up front of the aircraft as
having been torn open, that's the seating area for passengers.
Mr.G
George
"Mr.G" <mik...@remove.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3ZcYf.2579$i41...@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
I wondwered about that myself. If they all lived, that would be amazing.
Did you notice the cargo capacity they listed?
George
Mr.G
Yeah the total weight of the aircraft again. It happens
all the time. It is in effect how much it can lift, and it is
more impressive sounding that the cargo capacity.
Mr.G
George
Hell of a plane, though. I hadn't heard about the crash in Vietnam that
killed so many. If it hadn't been for that crash, it would have an
incredible safety record. And apparently the two crashes are similar.
George