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C-5 accident at Dover AFB

Just on BBC.

C5 crashed. Think it was Delaware.
Anyone with more details.

C-5 accident at Dover AFB

BBC report a C-5 has crashed at Dover AFB, pictures show it has broken in half just behind the cockpit, 17 pax
Hope all OK

G-I-B

More here C5 crash

Here's a link with some pictures----

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...cal&id=4048441

Quote:

The C-5 can carry 270,000 tons 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.
From CNN web.

What a payload!

Those are amazing pictures. It seems to have broken very cleanly and great that there was no fire.

270,000 tonne payload. Want one.
Not this one of course. What's happened to the tail?
http://a.abclocal.go.com/images/wpvi...c5crash200.jpg

Slideshow of crash site. Tail? Over yonder....

From the shots it looks like they put it down where the tail separated and slid until the port outer was ripped off, whilst the aircraft spun and the cockpit section detached. hell of a landing at that weight and load. I have to be puzzled as to the lack of fire. Incredibly lucky if fully fuelled.
http://a.abclocal.go.com/images/wpvi...plane-tail.jpg

Sorry Mr Darwin - got your payload slightly wrong.

The Galaxy has 12 internal wing tanks with a total capacity of 51,150 gallons (194,370 liters) of fuel -- enough to fill 6 1/2 regular size railroad tank cars. A full fuel load weighs 332,500 pounds (150,820 kilograms). A C-5 with a cargo load of 270,000 pounds (122,472 kilograms) can fly 2,150 nautical miles, offload, and fly to a second base 500 nautical miles away from the original destination -- all without aerial refueling. With aerial refueling, the aircraft's range is limited only by crew endurance.

Pilot, co-pilot pinned during C-5 crashUpdate 10:47 am - The News Journal - Delaware Online

DOVER -- The pilot and co-pilot of a C-5 cargo plane were pinned in their seats when the plane crashed today, just south of Dover Air Force Base, according to an Air Force officer who had friends on the plane.

Seventeen people were aboard, and three were flown by helicopter to Christiana Hospital in Stanton, two with possible spinal injuries, the officer said. A Christiana Hospital spokesperson referred all questions to the Air Force. Fourteen people from the C-5 were taken to Kent General Hospital with minor injuries, one with a broken leg.

At 9:30 a.m., at least four Air Force personnel wearing patients’ smocks at Kent General could be seen in a conference room filling out forms and being questioned by Air Force officers in camouflage fatigues. The personnel in the smocks appeared to be uninjured and were sipping coffee and munching donuts. Hospital spokesperson Pam Marecki was not immediately available for comment. According to Ellen Shockley of Bayhealth, which operates Kent General, all 14 “patients are being evaluated and treated now. Many patients will soon be discharged and a few will likely be admitted to the hospital.”

CNN: 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. No one was killed, but several aboard were injured, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Melissa Phillips, a spokeswoman for the base, told The Associated Press.

Pentagon sources told CNN the aircraft "declared an in-flight emergency for a No. 2 engine flameout."

Hopefully all aboard survived without serious injury -- pending hospital reports. The fuselage seems to have broken in the upper deck kitchen/lav area where hopefully nobody was present. As I recall from a tour many moons ago the pax seating is around the wings.

Two of four slides seem to have been correctly deployed:ok:

I'm sure the cockpit crew was happy it remained erect as it's a long way down the ladder and made it much easier to extricate the front seat crew who were reported pinned in their seats.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ORAC

I have to be puzzled as to the lack of fire. Incredibly lucky if fully fuelled.

The photo posted on the BBC site has an arc of foam suggesting either a small actual fire or a precautionary measure centered about the pylon from which an engine departed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl...5581/img/1.jpg

Picture no. 5 above. Did the tail take some of the top of the fuselage with it as well ? It doesn't seem to have detached at the attachment lugs....?

Looking at the Pictures...

Couple of things look a bit strange:
1. The ground around the aircraft seems intact - would've expected recognisable skid/gouge marks, perhaps? Suggests they arrived at near zero groundspeed.
2. Foam round the port wing seems to be a pretty late arrival - or a very early one. Most of the pics that first made it on to CNN etc. show very little of it, compared with archae86's view.
Be interesting to know what the sequence of events was...
GI

Not that I'd recommend speculating from photos, but to point out the obvious:

There are recognizable skid marks -- at the end of the slide, the aircraft turned 90 degrees to the direction of travel. In the process, the nose section broke off, and the left wing (pointing in the direction of travel), dipped down, sending the #1 pod on its way and causing a small fuel leak. There was no fire, and the passengers evacuated from the slightly lower side (towards the fuel leak). When the equipment arrived, they secured the site, evacuated the aircraft, then, when the TV crews showed up around, say, 12:01 pm, they applied flame retardant onto the spilled fuel.