Aircraft destroyed in Afghanistan (USAF E-11A (BACN))
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A very strange wreckage distribution pattern emerges from the latest photos. The video shows the lower part of the nose crushed, but other than that the fuselage appears to have remained mostly intact prior to the ground fire. The only other relatively minor ground impact marks are on the starboard engine, all suggesting a low energy ground contact, possibly in a controlled manner. Yet both wings seem to be completely missing, cleanly shorn off at the attachment joints, without which a controlled ground contact is a bit more difficult to achieve...
Confirmation from USFOR-A:
"A U.S. Bombardier E-11A crashed today in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire. We will provide additional information as it becomes available."
"A U.S. Bombardier E-11A crashed today in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire. We will provide additional information as it becomes available."
Looks like a controlled - to some extent - landing - given final damage.
Looks as though it lost it's port wing and gear on that ridge of ground behind, rupturing fuel tanks, resulting in fire.
Previous pics reveal a closed door.
All very sad.
Perhaps pilots had identified a landing area but the snow meant they didn't see that ridge of ground.
Having said that - there's no confirmation of casualties as yet so one lives in hope.
Comment on AVH:
Originally Posted by Pilot in same frequency
We were in same frequency when they declared Mayday to Kabul control. They declared mayday due to both engines faillure, and descended fl320 initially, and told proceeding Kandahar Airport. Their callsign was something like Lot01. Atc asked them pob and distance they can glide , couldnt get answer.
The video in the post above seems to show the aircraft had slid across a deep ditch, ripping the wings off and leaving them in the ditch. No obvious fire in the wings though so maybe they were flying on vapours only? Fingers crossed and let's hope they got out, however no news is not good news in this case.
At 1:38 in the vid you can clearly see the starboard wing (what's left of it) is well ablaze at the sheared outer edge - (like a roman candle).
Given the port wing ripped off in that ridge/ ditch it would have started the fire, it would have spread rapidly (post explosion) away from the wing to the more readily combustibles within the fuse given the time it took for whomever is taking the video to arrive on site and start filming. What I mean to say is; that's an aftermath video, long after the fire has spread from source point to stuff that burns better than metal.
In a new video, I noticed the APU door was open.
https://twitter.com/RebeccaRambar/st...761613824?s=20
https://twitter.com/RebeccaRambar/st...761613824?s=20
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Hmm. Perhaps we are seeing different things Auxtank but if the 'roman candle' you speak of is where flames can be seen emanating from the lower fusleage close to the ground, then I'm saying that's the gear well is and this is probably the tires burning if this was a gear up landing (which I'm guessing it was). The wing attachment point seems to have cleanly detached and you can see the open overwing exit which sits above where the wing should be. I'm not sure if this aircraft type has a centre wing tank but if it did you would have expected quite a conflagration in this area but in fact it seems the fuselage wing joint area doesn't seem charred at all? And with the wing in the ditch showing limited burning, she still all looks a bit sans fuel to me.
Again what’s left of the fuselage post fire looks like it was relatively intact upon impact less the wings so fingers crossed for the crew. Hopefully more details come to light soon and the location doesn’t cause too much trouble for the ANA/US to secure the site as I imagine they inevitably will if they haven’t already.
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I don't think it right that you can make a supposition that the scorching occurred in the air...
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The video at post #31 shows considerable damage to the rear of the number 2 engine.
