PPRuNe Forums - USMC KC-130 down in Mississippi

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USMC relieves Commander following the KC-130 crash and a lightning strike fatality of an Osprey maintenance technician.

Marine Corps Squadron Commander Fired Amid 'Loss of Trust, Confidence' | Military.com

Quote:

Originally Posted by SASless (Post 9838116)

USMC relieves Commander following the KC-130 crash and a lightning strike fatality of an Osprey maintenance technician

Sure doesn't sound good... Shall we understand that the investigation is leaning towards a maintenance issue?

No telling....but what it does suggest is the Marines do not play Patty Cake with Commanders when they decide to start cleaning house. Sometimes you can just be sitting in the wrong chair when bad things happen.

Give the investigation time to arrive at a cause.

A MWSS (Marine Wing Support Squadron) function is expeditionary airfields. Airbase ground defense, EOD, combat engineering tasks, weather, lighting, comms, fuel, chow, medical support (70 some USN medical), etc.

Only scenario where this particular MWSS CO was responsible for the crash is if they, instead of the station, improperly loaded something that lead to the loss. This CO’s relief could very well be unrelated to the KC-130 and zero connection to the lightning strike, sounds like speculation by the press. A CH-53 Co was recently relieved for cause (more egregious than loss of confidence) and this was pretty much buried due to circumstances/personnel.

I disagree that the USMC not playing patty cakes as it has failed to relieve COs who violated orders under CO’s prerogative even after being advised by their respective staffs of the specifics of the bad idea. The PR of relieving those in charge vice going after those who made the bad decisions negatively reflecting on the USMC. Aviano EA-6B, MEU (Allied Farce) Harrier, San Diego Hornet come immediately to mind. Before anyone brings up Aviano the EA-6B CO relieved for destruction of tapes ignores the actual fact that these tapes were “liberty training tapes” and not flying/duty tapes.

S/F, FOG

https://www.defensenews.com/breaking...urther-notice/

Grounding includes "Fat Albert" the C-130 that supports the Blue Angels team.

Quote:

July 31, 2017.
The Naval Air Force Reserve has grounded its fleet of 23 C-130T transport aircraft until further notice amid the ongoing investigation into the deadly July 10 crash of a KC-130T in Mississippi that killed 16 service members.

The Navy aircraft are similar to the Marine Corps Reserve's fleet of 12 KC-130Ts that were grounded Thursday out of an abundance of caution because of the investigation into that crash.

"During the course of an ongoing safety investigation into the tragic Marine Corps mishap in Mississippi involving a KC-130T, an airframe similar to what is flown by our Navy Reserve, the Commander, Naval Air Force Reserve has directed an operational pause for their similar C-130 Fleet," said Lt. Russell Chilcoat, a spokesman for Navy Reserve Forces Command. "While operational lift requirements are understood, it is prudent to allow time for the investigation to provide more information on possible causal factors prior to resuming flight.

Navy grounds 23 aircraft similar to one involved in deadly Mississi.. | abc7chicago.com

Fleet remains grounded

Quote:

The horrific KC-130T plane crash that killed 15 Marines and a sailor last summer was caused by a deteriorating propeller blade that was corroded when it entered an Air Force maintenance depot in 2011, but workers there failed to fix it and sent it back to the fleet unrepaired.This neglect allowed a routine corrosion problem to metastasize into a crack that went undetected for years until a mundane cross-country transport mission ended in flames.On July 10, 2017, that worn-down blade finally failed and came loose from the propeller 20,000 feet above Mississippi farmland, as the Marine Corps Reserve plane was en route to California under the call sign “Yanky 72.”It shot into the side of the aging aircraft, one of the last 130Ts still flying, a model set to be retired in the next few years.The blade’s impact set off a cataclysm that killed everyone on board and left the aircraft in three pieces, creating inconsolable heartache for 16 military families and an inferno of wreckage scattered for miles.These revelations — along with the systemic failures in the military’s aviation maintenance system that led to the loss — are outlined in a Marine Corps investigation into last summer’s crash that was obtained by Defense News and Military Times.The investigation’s report and nearly 2,000 pages of supplementary records portray an endemic level of neglect by the Air Force, which maintains C-130 propeller blades for the Navy.

[ Read the Marine Corps' report on the KC-130T crash that killed 16 last summer ]

In addition to the Air Force depot’s failure to fix the faulty blade, investigators also found the Navy did not ensure the work was done properly.

https://www.militarytimes.com/2018/1...hat-killed-16/

Hmmm - our speculations seem to have been close to target in this case - took more than one prop blade to fatally injure the airframe.

- Primary cause - faulty prop maintenance
- #2 prop blade 4 separates due to corrosion/fatigue, slices through port side of fuselage, embeds inside starboard side of fuselage.
- jolt for that event causes entire prop #3 to separate at the gearbox and slice into starboard side of fuselage, and then into starboard HS fin, separating a large portion of that.
- separation of control runs, loss of stabilizer, weakened airframe results in LOCA and breakup

Been there.

Can't get rid of the beat noise.
Re-synch, Re-index, whatever, no change.

Land on.
Ok, #4, No2 blade is loose .

Well that's ok, 'cos so is No 4 blade....

Hmm, do they balance each other out?

Given the current C-130 news in Japan, fingers crossed friends, best health

blob:https%3A//www.defensenews.com/ca91e45f-68f6-4937-bc8d-9992812486cb

Video explanation showing sequence of events - cause was maintenance error during previous depot inspection 6 years prior.

This video and the other crash video gave me real pause for thought Thank God (and our servicing personnel) that we never had such an incident during my 30 years on the 'K'.

I remember seeing a blade that had a probe tip hit..Think it was either `Rats` or Scroggs,during a training sortie...?

sycamore,
I think the Thorney Island crash landing may have had a partial prop penetration. As for your recollection of the probe tip hitting a prop I recall that too but cannot remember who the captain was. No doubt someone will know.