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C130 Crash Video

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That video looks like it was part of a movie. It's horrible watching that... imagine what it must have looked like from the cockpit.
 
I hope there families are doing well. It takes watching something like this to remind us of exactly how fragile we are in those cockpits. But what I've always told my family is at least if it does happen, it is in doing something that I love. And I am sure knowing that would give their families at least some consolation.
 
I have looked at the video closely, and it looks like the constant section, the area that binds both wings together in the fuselage comes shooting straight out of the top of the airplane. It is the dark object that you see flying out at high speed right out of the top of the aircraft, you can barely make it out coming right out of the top sheet metal skin.

If you think along the lines of a wing failure, you would think of a wing breaking off and that would be that. In this case both wings seprerate almost simutainously, it leads me to believe that it was this reinforced wing box is actually what failed, not just one of the wings. But, I am no expert on the C-130.

I am not trying to point out the obvious, I am just speaking my mind on this very sad subject.

LR25
 
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LR25,

That's a good guess, but quite wrong. All of the crews attached to these airplanes are acutely aware of what happened. For those who do know, the video taken makes it painfully obvious.

Public speculation at this point is not appropriate; the cause is known, and public guesswork can only cause pain for the families and damage to the air program.

An official investigation must first take place to confirm for the public what we already know, and until that's complete, open discussion of the cause is not appropriate.

I can say this: the same thing that happened to T130 several days ago happened to me in T130 several years ago...the difference being that the wings didn't leave the airplane. This isn't a new failure mode.
 
Avbug

Avbug

Everyone is speculating on the cause, why if you have insight on a probably cause would you not come forth with it.

Duel wing separation, especially after drop of retartant weight, seems unlikely unless it started as the aircraft was making a sharp climb resulting in severe wing deflection.

If there is something that has history besides the cracks that we have heard of, give us the benefit of some of your insight and experience.
 
I think avbug has taken the correct stance on this issue. If he thinks he knows what happened to T-130 because of his experience then it will become public information sooner or later. Public speculation has no place here. I don't always agree with the results of the NTSB, but they are the so called "experts" and will have it wrapped up soon enough.
 
No disrespect intended. With such vivid images alot of people start to speculate. I certianly dont want to start pointing fingers or cuases, ecpecially with the history there airplanes apparently have.

Like I said earlier, I'm not trying to point out the pianfully obvious, again just speaking my mind.
 
fact

While admirable, the fact is that everyone speculates on these things for 2 seconds after impact. The people on this board are aviators and the purpose of this board is to spread information.

While all of us know that the speculation often is wrong, expecially when the public is speculating, keeping your concept of what might have happened serves little purpose.
C-130's have a checkered past but one has to remember they are not 737's. They were built to do a job and to be a workhorse.

I respect Avbug but would not think it is out of line to tell what his opinion is/
 
Publisher,

It is not my opinion; I know exactly what happened. All I care to say on the subject is that every other crewmember involved in these types of operations knows the same thing. Steve Waas, Craig Labare, and Mike Davis knew it, too. When it happened, they knew exactly what was happening...I gaurantee it.

I have experienced what happened...the only difference is that my wings didn't come off. The difference is slight, because I still have no idea why the wings didn't actually separate when it occured.

T-82 was destroyed in flight in 1994 under nearly identical circumstances, except that T-82 was enroute to base on a load-and-return, rather than just pulling off the drop. T-82 was initially reported to have simply exploded enroute, though everybody knew differently. In a sense, what occured several days ago is confirmation of what happened several years ago, and what has happened to several of us over the past few years.

Rest assured that if nothing changes...this will happen again. However, this is an issue for the crews involved, and is not a public issue. The public may speculate, but the public does that anyway. I've been approached by reporters asking my opinion, my understanding, or the facts regarding this or that on the matter at hand. I have patiently explained that I am happy to discuss how much the crew was liked, how well they flew, etc. I will not become a talking head for the media circus. Nor will I provide information specific to the nature of the investigation until it is complete, except to investigators.

This isn't at all the same as the 737 issue. You, or the public, will never be riding on these airplanes. This affects a very small group of people, all of whom presently understand the risks, the cause, and the problem (such as it may be). This is a dramatic event to the public. It's horrifying, shocking. Makes people sick when watching their televisions. They forget that for some of us, this happens every year.

It may not be the wings coming off, but ever year since I have was flying as a kid I've known personally those who went in. I've read the reports, watched the accidents, even put out the fires by hand. I've dismantled the wreckage. This isn't a one-off shocking event. I knew these people, and flew with them, I flew the airplane, and I experienced part of what they experienced in the same make, model, and serial number; the airplane that crashed. Looking back, something like 50% of the airplanes I've flown over the years have crashed and been destroyed at some point...including my solo airplane.

This last year, five aircraft and fifteen people make up those I've known, been involved with, etc, who crashed and were killed. The season is still young. Yesterday an air attack crashed. A few days before, another crash occured. There will be more. Investigations will take place. Answers will be found, regulations developed, inspections made, and crews informed.

The tanker industry works differently than charter, or airlines, or any other facet of aviation. When investigators show up to deal with a situation, the pilots typically have the most input or say in the matter. Nobody knows those aircraft or the environment, or the potentials, better than the pilots. The pilots do the job of everybody, from loadmasters to mechanics to crew chiefs to pilots. All rolled into one; it's the way it must be. Accordingly, before regulation is made, or decisions released, the pilots are consulted in group meetings or individually around the country, and in one large group every two years, on these matters.

The only people who really need to speculate or discuss these matters are the crews in the airplanes themselves...and that's a very small community.

If it makes anybody feel better, there was nothing the crew could do, or that anybody could do from home. Crews involved in these missions know the statistics, and the risks. There are no surprises. There are a lot of issues at work that most people here wouldn't understand, and would be taken out of context or interpreted incorrectly. There is no background that can prepare someone for that type of work, or to understand why certain things are done the way they are. The usual reaction when people learn of some of those issues and proceedures is shock or disbelief. The simple answer is that if told, people wouldn't believe it anyway.

I'm not trying to dodge a question, but explain (hopefully without offense) why I can't answer it right now. Hopefully that will be enough.

For now, don't focus on how these men died, but on how they lived. That is all which matters.
 

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