This briefing was originally developed in 1997, as a flight safety initiative of the 728th Airlift Squadron, McChord AFB Washington. It represents a historical synopsis of the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter’s lifetime mishap history. The purpose is to familiarize current C-141 crew members with the mishap history of the C-141, with a view toward the mishap potential of current and future operations. The goal is to reduce future mishaps by understanding the mishaps of the past.
The mission and operational environment of the C-141 have not changed significantly since the first airplane was accepted in 1963. Review of its mishap experience can provide valuable insight into hazards currently encountered by Starlifter aircrews.
The C-141 has been the backbone of strategic airlift within the US Air Force for over thirty years. The Starlifter fleet has flown more than 10 Million hours in operational service, with one of the best safety records in the USAF. As of 2002, the C-141 lifetime Class A Flight Rate was 0.32 per 100,000 flight hours compared to an overall USAF rate in FY01 of 1.08.
The mishap experience of the C-141 is limited enough to allow a case-by-case review of all hull-loss mishaps. In addition to the hull-loss incidents, the C-141 fleet has experienced a number of serious incidents that did not lead to the destruction of the airframe. A selection of some of the more significant such incidents are included in this briefing. These incidents were selected when significant to the mishap history of the C-141.
Details on the following incidents were gathered exclusively from published public documents, and in some cases, personal accounts. Consistent with the "privileged information" restrictions of AFI 91-204, the original accident and incident reports were neither made available, nor utilized, for this briefing. In nearly all cases, the Air Force’s actual Factual Findings of Cause and other privileged information can only be inferred from the publicly available accident information. In some cases, due to the length of time since the accident and the limited information available in the public domain, certain details may no longer be available. Every effort has been made to ensure the factual accuracy of this briefing. Any opinions expressed are those of the author and not the official position of the USAF.
The incident information is presented for accident prevention purposes only. Nothing in this briefing is to be construed as personal criticism of the crew members involved.
MISHAP CLASSIFICATION
The Air Force’s primary regulation on the classification and statistical analysis of aircraft accidents is AFI 91-204. For statistical analysis and mishap rate calculations, an accident is only counted against the Flight Mishap rate if there was "Intent for Flight". Accidents that occur without "Intent for Flight" are categorized as a Ground and Industrial mishaps. Aircraft Ground Operations mishaps do not contribute to official Flight mishap rates, even if the aircraft was destroyed.
While hull-loss incidents qualify as Class A incidents, other mishaps can also meet the Class A criteria without destruction of the aircraft. The Air Force classifies aircraft accidents and incidents as follows:
Class A: Total destruction of an aircraft, damage of $1 million or more, or a fatality or permanent total disability.
Class B: Total cost of $200,000 or more but less than $1 million, or a permanent partial disability, or inpatient hospitalization of three or more personnel.
Class C: Total cost of $10,000 or more but less than $200,000, or an injury or occupational illness resulting in a loss of 8 hours or more.
High Accident Potential (HAP): Events where there is a potential significant hazard to the crew or aircraft if a similar event were to occur.
Designated C-141, the Lockheed Model 300 was the winning entrant of a competition to satisfy Specific Operational Requirement (SOR) 182. The first aircraft flew on 17 December 1963. The last of 284 aircraft was delivered in December 1966.
The Air Force started modifying 270 "A" models to the "B" configuration in late 1979. Lockheed completed the modification in June 1982. In 1997, approximately 60 "B"-model aircraft were up graded to a "C"-model configuration, incorporating a "glass cockpit" and many other upgrades.
The C-141 has been heavily involved in every US conflict and military operation from Vietnam to Afghanistan . It has flown countless humanitarian missions. Its inherent flexibility, range, and reliability have made it the choice for special missions, such as Operation Deep Freeze and the transport of nuclear weapons. The hallmark of the C-141 has been safe, fast, and reliable airlift.
Since its introduction, the C-141 has had many updates and modifications. The most obvious was the modification to the "B" configuration. Several other upgrades have had significant impact on the aircraft operational mishap experience. The chart below highlights some of the more important equipment upgrades.
| Equipment | Year of Introduction |
| Add AN/APN 169B Station-Keeping Equipment | 1975 |
| Upgrade Pressure Door | 1976 |
| Add INS | 1977 |
| Add GPWS | 1978 |
| Upgrade Cargo Ramp Locking Mechanism | 1978 |
| Modify to "B" Configuration | 1979 |
| Modify Brake System | 1979 |
| Remove Auto Spoilers | 1980(?) |
| Replace APN-59 Radar with Bendix Color Radar | 1981 |
| Cockpit Voice Recorder and improved Flight Recorder | 1983 |
| Add FSAS | 1983 |
| Glass Cockpit for selected "C" model aircraft | 1997 |
| Add TCAS | 1999 |
In the lifetime service of the C-141, twenty-one aircraft have been destroyed. By comparison, the USAF has lost over 85 C-130 aircraft and 277 F-16’s. One hundred and nine aircrew members, three maintenance workers, and fifty passengers have been killed in C-141 mishaps.
| Date | 7 Sept 1966 | Cause: | Maintenance Error | Condition D/N | N/A |
| Wing/Base: | 62 MAW/ TCM | Location: | McChord AFB WA | IMC/VMC | N/A |
| Tail #: | 65-0281 | Fatalities: | 3 Maintenance Members | Fatigue? | N/A |
Synopsis: The first C-141 destroyed, blew up while simultaneous hazardous maintenance procedures were being performed. Three maintenance members were killed in an explosion of the Extended Range tank.
The Wing at McChord had recently converted to the Starlifter. The first aircraft had arrived on 9 August 1966. The incident aircraft was the third C-141 to be stationed at McChord, it had arrived on base the week before, on 29 August. The maintenance teams had minimal practical experience with the new airplane.
The incident C-141 was having multiple maintenance difficulties. The Right Extended Range Tank fuel gage was erratic, and the AC "Power On" Light was inoperative. Two electricians were in the cockpit working on the "Power On" Light. A Maintenance Team Chief was also in the cockpit with three trainees. In addition, he was supervising a maintenance team on another aircraft. The Assistant Team Chief had started defueling the Right Extended Range Tank to prepare it for troubleshooting. The plane’s other fuel tanks were full.
Two additional technicians arrived to work on the fuel gauge, before the defueling was complete. One of the electrical technicians connected the tester to the fuel tank, but failed to ground the test equipment. The other technician plugged an extension cord into the external 115V AC receptacle of the APU. The live extension cord apparently came in contact with the case of the MB-2 test equipment. The electricity flowed through the case, up the cables into the tank and, due to a short in the coaxial shielding, caused a spark within the nearly empty tank. The right wing exploded. The Assistant Team Chief, standing under the wing, and the technician on the wing were killed almost immediately. One of the technicians in the cockpit was fatally burned while exiting the right troop door into a burning pool of JP-4. He died a few days later. The others on the aircraft received only minor injuries.
| Date | 23 March 1967 | Cause: | Runway Incursion | Condition D/N | Night |
| Wing/Base: | 62 MAW/KTCM | Location: | Da Nang AB RVN | IMC/VMC | IMC |
| Tail #: | 65-9407 | Fatalities: | 5 crew | Fatigue? | No |
Synopsis: The C-141 was destroyed while taxiing in after landing. As it crossed the inner parallel runway, it was struck by an aircraft on takeoff roll. Five crew members were killed; one loadmaster survived.
The incident aircraft had just flown a nearly six-hour leg at night, to a GCA approach with weather of 700 feet and 2 miles visibility. After landing on the outer of two parallel runways, the crew turned off at mid-field and taxied toward the ramp. They were struck by a Marine A-6 taking off on the inner parallel runway.
The C-141’s cargo included acetylene tanks. The A-6 was loaded with sixteen 500lbs bombs. Both aircraft were destroyed in an intense fire. Five of six C-141 crew members were killed. Both Marine crew members escaped major injury.
Poor radio equipment in the tower hampered communications between the aircraft. During the investigation, tower personnel stated that they had not cleared the C-141 to cross the inner active runway. Landing and taxi lights were not being used by either aircraft, both were displaying only navigation lights.
| Date | 12 Apr 1967 | Cause: | Checklist Deviation | Condition D/N | Night |
| Wing/Base: | 62 MAW/KTCM | Location: | Cam Rahn Bay AB RVN | IMC/VMC | VMC |
| Tail #: | 66-0127 | Fatalities: | 7 crew | Fatigue? | No |
An omitted checklist item caused the spoilers to deploy to the "Ground" position during takeoff roll. The aircraft became briefly airborne before crashing into the sea. Seven crew members were killed. A pilot in the outboard ACM seat and a loadmaster survived.
The incident crew had flown from Yokota AB, Japan to Cam Rahn Bay RVN. After the download, the crew prepared for a night departure back to Yokota. During completion of the Before Takeoff Checklist, on taxi out, the copilot inadvertently left the automatic Spoiler Select Switch in the "Autoland" position, instead of the "Rejected Takeoff" (RTO) position. Unnoticed by the crew, between 34-60 Knots, the spoilers automatically deployed to the ground position. The crew noticed a reduced acceleration rate, but elected to continue the takeoff. The aircraft became airborne, accelerated poorly, began a shallow descent, and crashed into the sea just off the end of the runway.
The Aircraft Commander had earned a Distinguished Flying Cross 18 months earlier, for safely landing a C-124, after one of the engines had fallen off.
As a result of this accident, the Takeoff Warning system was wired to include the Spoiler Select Switch. The Auto Spoilers were eventually disabled entirely.
| Date | 28 Aug 1973 | Cause: | Controlled Flt into Terrain | Condition D/N | Night |
| Wing/Base: | 438 MAW/ WRI | Location: | Torrejon AB Spain | IMC/VMC | VMC |
| Tail #: | 63-8077 | Fatalities: | 7 crew/17 Passengers | Fatigue? | Yes |
Synopsis: During descent for a night GCA approach, the mishap crew misunderstood a descent clearance. Due to communications difficulties, they were unable to confirm the clearance, so accepted what they thought they heard. The aircraft impacted level terrain in a slight descent and was destroyed. Seven crew and 17 passengers were killed. A navigator was thrown clear and survived.
The aircrew departed McGuire AFB for Athens Greece , in mid-afternoon on a planned 23 hour crew duty day, with two enroute stops prior to Athens . The crew arrived in Athens , in the afternoon, and spent the rest of the day sightseeing. They retired to their non air-conditioned hotel for a few hours before doing more sightseeing in the morning. When they departed Athens , that afternoon, on another augmented day back to home station, most were already tired.
28 August was the night of the new moon. The moon had set that evening at 1946 hours Madrid Time. Approaching Torrejon, some hours later, the crew started an enroute descent, for an ILS approach to runway 23 at Torrejon. Weather was reported as 20,000 foot overcast, with 10 NM visibility. During the descent, the pilot noticed that the crew had missed the "Descent Checklist", but became distracted by a radio call and forgot to request it later. The omission went undetected by the rest of the crew.
While level at FL60, the crew was given a clearance to a lower altitude, but because of heavy radio traffic, the clearance was garbled. Although the crew was unsure of whether the controller had cleared them to 5000’ or 3000’, they agreed between them that it must have been 3000’. They read back "three thousand feet", but the controller missed the error and switched them to the final controller. They again reported "passing 5000 for 3000", but this controller also failed to hear the error. Nearing 3000 feet, the navigator noticed a hill ahead and above their altitude, but the pilot reassured him that "everything looks clear ahead".
The cleanly configured aircraft impacted the level terrain at 250 Knots, near the edge of a plateau at 3050’, in a slight descent. The lights of the base were visible in the valley below. The crash killed 7 crew members and 17 passengers. A navigator, in the outboard ACM seat, was thrown clear and survived the accident. At the time of the accident, the crew had spent only eight of the last 60 hours in bed. Investigators determined that several switches had been left in an incorrect position, indicating the fatigue of the crew.
Because they had omitted the Descent Checklist, the crew had failed to set their altimeters from 29.92" to the local altimeter setting of 30.17" or turn on the radar altimeter. They had not monitored their descent, or noted that a clearance of 3000’ was below the glideslope intercept altitude of the ILS approach. Ironically, if the crew had leveled off at 3000’ on altitude with their altimeters still set to 29.92, and not allowed the aircraft to descend further, they would still have cleared the terrain by 179 feet.
| Date | 18 Aug 1974 | Cause: | Controlled Flt into Terrain | Condition D/N | Day |
| Wing/Base: | 437 MAW/KCHS | Location: | Near La Paz Bolivia | IMC/VMC | IMC |
| Tail #: | 65-0274 | Fatalities: | 7 crew | Fatigue? | Yes |
Synopsis: While making an enroute descent into a remote high altitude airport in non-radar IMC conditions, the pre-INS equipped aircraft impacted a mountain. All seven crew members were killed.
The crew had been alerted early in the morning for a flight of over 1800 miles over mostly uninhabited jungle and limited navaids from Howard AFB Panama to John f. Kennedy Airport , LaPaz Bolivia. (now known as El Alto International Airport ICAO Identifier:SLLP). As they neared their destination, and based on the crew’s reporting an estimated position of three minutes from the La Paz VOR, air traffic control cleared them for a descent from FL240 to FL180. In reality, the aircraft was much further east of the VOR, than the crew believed. The only navaid available was the La Paz VOR. Neither DME, nor radar was available. Area weather at the time included extensive cloud cover from 700 AGL to FL240. The last communication with the crew was as they reported, "...out of FL240 for FL180".
The aircraft impacted a 20,000’ mountain at the 18,700’ level, 15 NM north of the La Paz airport. Minimum sector altitude was 21,300’. There were no survivors among the crew of seven. Two weeks before this accident, another C-141 flying the same route in VMC had taken evasive action to avoid the same mountain. Unfortunately, the crew had not reported the incident. Unforecast headwinds across the Andes have been the cause of several major aircraft accidents.
| Date | 21 Mar 1975 | Cause: | Conltrolled Flt into Terrain | Condition D/N | Night |
| Wing/Base: | 62n MAW/KTCM | Location: | Mt Constance WA | IMC/VMC | IMC |
| Tail #: | 64-0641 | Fatalities: | 10 Crew/6 Passengers | Fatigue? | Yes |
Synopsis: Returning to home station after a long overseas mission, the C-141 was cleared for an enroute descent. During the descent, the air traffic controller confused call signs with another aircraft and cleared the Starlifter for a descent below minimum vectoring altitude. The aircraft crashed into Mt. Constance, with the loss of 10 crew members and 6 passengers.
At 2300 local time, as they approached the coast of Washington State at FL370, in stormy weather, the crew had already had a long duty day. Flying from Clark with stops at Kadena, Yokota, and finally McChord, they had been up for more than 28 hours. The crew was tired and ready to be home. At 90 miles from McChord, they were given a descent clearance to 15,000’, and given a frequency change. On the new frequency, they were given a clearance to 10,000 feet. This Seattle Type Center controller was also controlling a Navy A-6 (Call sign "Navy V 28323") returning to NAS Whidbey. Still 60 miles from McChord, the C-141 reported level at 10,000. The controller directed "…maintain five thousand". The flight responded "Five Thousand. MAC 40641 is out of ten". A couple minutes later, the A-6 pilot requested further descent. The controller, confused why the Navy jet hadn’t yet descended, re-cleared him to 5000 feet. About that time, the controller at Seattle Approach Control noticed that he could not find the C-141 on his radar scope, so contacted the original controller at Seattle Center . Repeated radio calls failed to raise the Starlifter.
No one on the crew of three Pilots and three Navigators, including an Examiner Navigator had noticed the erroneous descent clearance below the sector altitude or the unusually early descent. The C-141 had impacted the near vertical northwest face of Mt. Name Constance , on the east slope of the Olympic Mountains , 150 feet from the top of the 7743’ peak. There were no survivors among the 10 crew members and 6 passengers.
| Date | 28 Aug 1976 | Cause: | Loss of Control | Condition D/N | Day |
| Wing/Base: | 438 MAW/KWRI | Location: | Sondrestrom Greenland | IMC/VMC | VMC |
| Tail #: | 67-0006 | Fatalities: | 7 Crew/16 Passengers | Fatigue? | No |
Synopsis: After completing a normal approach, the crew elected to go around after touchdown, due to a landing illusion. The aircraft lifted off in a nose high attitude, stalled, and crashed on the runway. There were 4 survivors out of 27 crew and passengers.
The incident crew had departed home station on the morning
of 27 August and arrived at Thule
AB six hours later.
They departed the next morning for the
two-hour flight to Sondrestrom AB.
To avoid refueling at Sondrestrom for the
return flight to Thule
then McGuire, they had boarded enough fuel for both legs.
The flight plan filed at The crew arrived at Sondrestrom in day VMC conditions, and
requested a PAR approach. They landed
slightly long. Witnesses testified that
the approach and landing appeared normal.
The aircraft rolled for 1500 to 2000 feet with no thrust reverser or
spoiler deployment. The aircraft then
rotated abruptly and lifted off the runway with a pitch attitude as high as 45
degrees. The engines were heard
accelerating to takeoff power. The
aircraft rolled right, then left. It
sank back to the runway. The left wing
struck the ground and burst into fire.
The aircraft became airborne again with portions of the left wing
missing. It flew for 650 feet before
striking the right wing and catching it on fire.
It then bounced once more and disintegrated
500 feet from runway centerline. Seven
crew members and 16 passengers were killed.
A navigator and 3 passengers survived. Investigators were puzzled why a plane would crash after a
normal landing. They determined that the
very inexperienced (Aircraft Commander with less than 100 hour in command)
aircrew had been affected by a landing illusion.
Sondrestrom AB runway 11 is 9235’ long.
The first 3000’ has an upslope of 1.51%; it
rises 59 feet from the threshold. At
touchdown, the last two-thirds of the runway disappears, giving the impression
of a very short runway The crew had landed long and hot with a tailwind of 5 to 10
Knots. The excessive fuel (approx.
100,000 lbs.) onboard had required an approach speed 30 knots higher than
normal. The pilots (both First
Lieutenants) had initiated a go-around.
For unknown reasons, they had over-rotated and let the pitch attitude
become excessive. The aircraft stalled,
crashed on the runway, and was destroyed. Synopsis:
Approaching Mildenhall, after an Atlantic
crossing with a known inoperative weather radar, the aircraft entered an area
of thunderstorms and heavy rain. The aircraft
encountered severe turbulence and broke up in-flight.
There were no survivors of 18 onboard. The crew was alerted from home station at 2100 hours
local. The aircraft commander had spent
a full duty day in the office, the day of the mission. The aircraft’s previous crew had written up the APN-59 radar
as "extremely weak and unusable", but on the ground it seemed to be working, so
it was signed off as "Ops Check Okay".
The maintenance crewman assigned to fix the radar, did not know that it
had been written up eight times previously. At McGuire Base Ops, the Mildenhall weather was forecast to
be "3/8 at 2500 feet, 4/8 at 4000 feet".
Shortly after takeoff, the crew noticed that the radar was
inoperative. Since severe weather was
not forecast, they elected to continue to Mildenhall.
Two hours after takeoff, British forecasters
issued a SIGMET for "Moderate to occasional severe clear air turbulence from
FL240 to FL400". USAF Global Weather
downgrades it to "Moderate". It doesn’t
matter, the crew is never aware of the report.
Four hours after takeoff the crew updates the weather forecast.
They receive a weather forecast of "3/8 at
3000’, 4/8 at 4000 feet with an intermittent condition of wind 030/12 gusting
22, visibility five miles in thunderstorms,
2/8 at 2000’ 5/8 at 2500 feet". One hour
from destination, the crew again tried to update the weather, but due to
scheduled autovon maintenance at Mildenhall, the crew could not make contact.
They attempted another station.
This time the report was "4/8 Thunderstorms
tops to FL260". During the enroute
decent they entered the clouds. At FL
150, they requested vectors around the weather, from the air traffic
controller. Because the primary radar
was inoperative, the controller advised that he would have difficulty providing
avoidance vectors. He reported, "I can’t
see any way through it all". The crew
replied, "…MAC is attempting to maintain VMC and to pick our way through…".
That was the last transmission from the
aircraft. Radar tracked the aircraft as
it entered the leading edge of a very strong line of thunderstorm cells.
A few moments later, at FL90 and 25NM
northwest of RAF Mildenhall, the radar target disappeared.
The aircraft was seen, by ground observers,
falling from the clouds in pieces. Investigation revealed no evidence of lightning strike or
fatigue failure. The aircraft apparently
encountered severe turbulence. Accident
investigators estimated gust loads in excess of the design limit of any
transport class aircraft. One estimate
indicated they encountered a 100 mph downward vertical airshaft.
The right wing had failed, followed quickly
by the upper half of the vertical stabilizer, and the four engines.
All 14 crew, including members of a
deadheading Reserve crew, and 4 passengers were killed. Synopsis:
Toward the end of a local training sortie,
the crew noticed the lack of a "Brakes Released" light.
They completed a normal landing.
Due to an electrical malfunction of the Gear Handle, the nose gear collapsed.
The aircraft
came to stop 800’ from end of runway.
The crew escaped without injury, but the aircraft was destroyed by fire. After several touch and goes, the crew noticed that the “Brakes Released” light did not come on,
after the gear was extended. The Dash 1, at the time, stated only that the crew should be careful
when applying normal brakes. The crew flew a normal approach and landing. After touchdown, the
spoilers opened only partly then closed. Only #4 Thrust Reverser would deploy. Normal brakes were
inoperative. While the IP attempted to control the aircraft, he directed the copilot to select
Emergency Brakes. The copilot selected Emergency Brakes, and then continued to make multiple
attempts to deploy the spoilers, depleting #3 Hydraulic System pressure. With 4000 feet of runway
remaining, the crew heard a loud bang. An electrical malfunction within the gear handle caused the
nose gear to retract. The aircraft came to a stop 820 feet from the end of the runway and the crew
evacuated. Fire consumed the aircraft.
The actual malfunction was a shot circuit within the Landing Gear Handle Relay. This caused the touchdown
relay to stay in the Flight mode, and gave the nose gear an up signal. Emergency Brakes failed when #3
Hydraulic System lost pressure due to the copilots multiple spoiler attempts. The Thrust Reversers did
not deploy because they were locked out by the Touchdown Relay, still in the Flight Mode. The deployment
of the #4 Thrust Reverser was a malfunction, without which, however, the aircraft would likely have
departed the end of the runway.
Synopsis:
The incident aircraft was part of an ongoing
international exercise. The crew
attempted a night visual approach.
During the turn to final, bank and rate of descent increased until
impact. All 13 occupants were killed. Cairo weather was reported as 20,000 foot broken and 5 miles visibility.
The nearly new moon had set at 2044 local
Cairo time. The desert terrain around the airfield is
dark and devoid of ground lights. Flying from Rhein-Main
AB Germany, the crew was given an enroute descent and clearance for a visual approach,
shortly before midnight
local time. They attempted a visual
straight-in, decided to go around, and then set up for a visual traffic pattern
at 2000 feet. 30 seconds after starting
the final turn, bank and rate of descent increased rapidly.
The aircraft crashed seconds later,
approximately 3 miles from the runway.
Six crew members and 7 passengers were killed. Synopsis:
During an informal aircraft tour, the crew
started the APU. An APU accumulator failed,
starting a fire that destroyed the aircraft.
There were no injuries. While in crew rest during a Red Flag redeployment mission,
some crew members were taking friends to see their airplane.
When they started the APU, an APU accumulator
ruptured. The resulting fire destroyed
the aircraft. Burning fuel spread across
the ramp and into the ramp drainage system.
The Pilot and Flight Engineer ran to a nearby C-141, threatened by the
spreading fire. They started the engines
and taxied the airplane to safety. There
were no injuries. Synopsis:The extremely
experienced crew elected to continue a low-level airdrop training mission in
mountainous terrain, during marginal weather.
The aircraft impacted a mountain with the loss of the entire crew. The local SOLL 1 training mission departed
Charleston shortly before
1300 hours. The crew was extremely
experienced. The Aircraft Commander was
recognized as the airdrop expert at Charleston
and was well known within the C-141 community.
The Copilot was a Flight Examiner. The aircraft entered VR-92 at 1350 local time.
Weather along the route was reported, by
other aircraft as 4500 feet Overcast, tops to 8000 feet, with
zero visibility below 4500 feet due to
rain showers, ragged ceiling, multi-layered stratus and fog.
Route weather was below MAC minimums. Radar plots by Atlanta
Center tracked the
aircraft on the route.At 1427, the
plots showed the aircraft in a progressive climb from 2500 feet.
The aircraft impacted 4908 foot John’s Knob
in the Tellico Wildlife Area, 118 feet short of the peak.
At the time of impact the aircraft was in a
slight climb of 4-5 degrees (approximately 2000 fpm).
There were no survivors among the crew of
nine. Speculation was that the crew was attempting to use the
recently installed Bendix color radar in the MAP mode, for terrain
avoidance. The flight recorder and
cockpit voice recorder were unrecoverable, due to impact force damage. Synopsis:
Shortly after takeoff from NAS Sigonella, the
incident aircraft experienced a catastrophic multiple engine failure.
Engine parts entered the cargo compartment and
started a fire. Thick smoke hindered the
crew’s ability to control the aircraft.
It entered a steep bank and impacted the terrain.
Eight crew members and one passenger were
killed. Immediately after takeoff, the aircraft’s #3 engine
experienced an uncontained engine failure.
Debris from #3 engine caused #4 engine to also fail.
Engine parts entered the cargo compartment
and started a fire in a pallet containing paint.
The cargo fire produced thick poisonous
smoke. Several crew members had
difficulty donning their oxygen masks.
Smoke made visual control of aircraft extremely difficult.
The aircraft entered a steep bank and crashed
within 198 seconds of takeoff. Eight
crew members and one passenger were killed. Post crash toxicology indicated the crew had received,
potentially fatal levels of cyanide poisoning, from the smoke, prior to
impact. Subsequent to this accident,
smoke goggles were added to crew oxygen masks.
Synopsis:Returning from short stateside mission at
night, the crew was directed to park in an unusual parking location.
While being marshaled into the parking spot,
the left wing struck a high intensity light pole.
A resulting fire destroyed the left
wing. There were only minor injuries. The Reserve crew was returning from a UTA "pickup"
mission. While approaching Travis, they
were advised that there had been a bomb threat at the passenger terminal.
The crew was directed to park in a parking
spot, which unknown to them was normally reserved for tow-in parking.
The Aircraft Commander twice deplaned the
scanner to complain about the marshaling procedure.
Convinced by the lead marshaller that "we do
it all the time", and with a wing walker on each wing, and a pilot in the left
window, they followed the marshaller’s instructions.
While starting a hard right turn the crew
felt a bump. The left wing had struck a
light pole, rupturing the #1 Main tank.
Fuel ran down the light pole and into a high voltage junction box at the
base of the pole, igniting a fire that spread back up the pole and onto the
wing. The crew evacuated the passengers
out the crew entrance door. The fire
department was able to contain the fire to the left wing. Investigation revealed that this parking spot was a "tow-in"
only spot, as the pilot had told the marshaling team.
They determined that the marshaller on the
left wing was still giving a "come ahead" signal at the time of the
impact. He was fixated on why the wing
position light "blinked" (It had passed behind the light pole). This accident happened after a string of MAC taxi
accidents. CINCMAC had only months
before issued a message threatening strong disciplinary action and that the
next crew to have a taxi accident was "walking on thin ice". In 1989, the right wing from this aircraft was removed to
replace the right wing of aircraft 70029, which was damaged in a landing
accident. The fuselage of aircraft
50246, minus wings, remained mothballed at Travis, but is unlikely to ever fly
again. It is counted as a hull-loss for purposes
of this briefing. Synopsis:
Following a long duty day, and to avoid
severe weather, the crew elected to complete a non-precision approach.
Inside the Final Approach Fix (FAF) the
aircraft developed a high rate of descent.
Despite GPWS warnings, the aircraft impacted in a wings level, nose low
attitude more than four miles from the runway. The crew had flown a long duty day.
They had departed Norton AFB in the morning,
but a leaking comfort pallet required a diversion back to Norton.
After maintenance repaired the leaking
pallet, they departed Norton AFB for Peterson AFB Colorado, then Hurlburt
Airfield Florida .
As they approached their destination, shortly
after 2000hrs, thunderstorms covered the approach path for the ILS approach to
runway 36, the primary instrument runway.
The crew requested the TACAN approach to runway 18.
The approach course was over uninhabited
swampy terrain, the classic "black hole" approach.
After passing the FAF, the crew allowed the
aircraft to enter a high rate of descent.
The copilot reset two GPWS warnings.
No verbal comments were made by any crew member about the high rate of
descent or descending below the Minimum Descent Altitude (MDA) of 345’
AGL.
At impact the aircraft parameters
were reported as:
Gear-Down Synopsis: The aircraft were flying
a night air refueling/airdrop training mission involving 4 C-141 aircraft.
The lead C-141 completed refueling, and moved
back to an unusually close post refueling position.
The #2 aircraft completed refueling.
During the rejoin, the #2 aircraft impacted
the lead aircraft. Both aircraft broke
up in-flight and crashed. Thirteen
crew members on the two aircraft were killed. The mission was scheduled as a 4-ship night air refueling/
airdrop training mission. Weather at the
time of the incident was VMC but without a visible horizon.
The tanker had just reached the end of the
track and had completed a 180-degree turn with the lead C-141 in trail at
FL255. Lead completed refueling and
backed off into what was described as an "unusually close" post refueling
position and descended to FL250. #2
aircraft completed refueling. During
#2’s back away, the pilot used 30 degree of bank, creating a 22 degree heading
change, and a relative closure rate of 250’/sec (150 NM/hr).
He allowed the aircraft to descend below
lead, recognized his altitude, and pulled up from directly below the lead
aircraft. The impact broke both sets of
wing boxes; the aircraft broke up and crashed, with the loss of all 13
crew members. The lead aircraft received a SKE proximity warning less than
3 seconds before impact. The #2 aircraft
did not receive a proximity warning.
Both crews had lost sight of the other aircraft before the collision.
Synopsis:
During fuel tank maintenance, the maintenance
crew used non-standard procedures. The right
wing exploded, and the aircraft was destroyed by fire.
Synopsis:
The aircraft was destroyed while parked on
the ramp at Pope AFB. It was struck by
wreckage of an F-16, following a mid-air collision with a C-130 on final
approach. While no C-141 crew members were
injured, 23 Army troops were killed and more than 80 were injured. The incident Starlifter was one of two in the process of
loading Army Paratroops for an exercise airdrop mission.
A two-seat F-16D entering the traffic pattern
collided with a C-130 at 300 feet on final for Runway 23.
The C-130 continued and landed safely.
The pilots of the critically damaged F-16
ejected successfully. The F-16 then
crashed onto the taxiway and skidded into the loading C-141, puncturing the
fuel tanks in the right wing and, starting a fire that engulfed the
aircraft. The fire and exploding 20mm
ammunition from the F-16 hampered rescuers.
Of approximately 500 troops in the vicinity of the accident, 23 were
killed and over 80 were injured. Synopsis:
The mission was returning from a UN support
mission to Namibia .
Shortly after level off, the aircraft
collided with a German Air Force Tu-154.
The nine crew members aboard the C-141 and 24 crew and passengers aboard
the Tu-154 were killed. The C-141 had flown from Ascension Island to deliver UN
humanitarian supplies to Windhoek
Namibia , in southwestern Africa .
They were scheduled to return that evening. The German Air Force Tu-154 had departed Cologne
for Capetown South Africa, with stops in Niamey
Niger and Windhoek
Namibia .
The Tu-154 crew had filed a flight plan, in
Niamey , requesting an
initial cruise altitude of FL350 with a subsequent enroute climb to FL390.
They received a small reroute while
transiting the airspace of Gabon .
The crew never requested the enroute climb
and remained at FL350 for the duration of the flight.
Passing western Africa ,
the course of the Tu-154 changed from westerly to easterly, requiring a change
in flight level to comply with international air traffic control procedures.
Neither the Tu-154 aircrew nor African air
traffic control agencies requested a change in altitude. The C-141 crew departed on the return leg for
Ascension Island at 1611 local time (1411 GMT).
Shortly after level off, at FL350, the C-141
collided with the Tu-154, approximately 80NM off the coast of
Namibia .
Cockpit voice recordings, from the Tu-154,
indicated that someone in the German airplane spotted the Starlifter just
moments before the collision, but not in time to maneuver away.
The Tu-154 struck the C-141 in the lower
fuselage. A French Air Force aircraft, in the vicinity, heard a single
"mayday" distress call. A
US
reconnaissance satellite reported a bright flash at position 18.8
style='font-size:12.0pt;° South, 11.3
style='font-size:12.0pt;° East at 1510 GMT,
approximately one hour after the C-141 departed. At 1600 GMT (2 hours after the scheduled takeoff), when they
did not receive a departure message for the C-141, ATC personnel at Ascension
attempted to verify the aircraft’s departure.
For the next 15 hours they made 50 phone calls attempting to contact
Namibian authorities. At 1055 GMT, they
finally notified AMC TACC that the aircraft was overdue.
AMC declared the aircraft missing at 1100
GMT, nearly 20 hours after the collision. The Namibian Air Traffic Control Agency reported that they
were controlling the C-141. They also
claimed that they had not received a flight plan for the German aircraft.
They were unaware that it was in their
airspace. The German aircraft had just
entered the Namibian FIR but had not yet made radio contact with the Namibian
ATC, at the time of the collision.
Investigation revealed that the Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunications
Network (AFTN) was inoperative. Luanda ( Angola )
ATC had not contacted Windhoek ,
as required by ICAO procedures. The
South Africa Air Line Pilots Association had labeled the Angolan airspace as
"critically deficient". SAALPA had
recorded 77 near-midair collisions over Africa ,
in 1996. Reports indicate that at the time of the mishap weather
conditions were VMC. The sun was low in
the northwestern horizon (within 30 degrees of the horizon) and, within 30
degrees of the C-141 flight path, making visual clearing for traffic difficult.
Local sunset occurred approximately one hour
after the Starlifter’s departure from Windhoek .
Neither the C-141 nor the TU-154 was equipped
with TCAS (Traffic Collision Alert System).
At a press conference on September 16, Brig. Gen. Duncan McNabb was
questioned on why only VIP aircraft of the 89th AS were equipped
with TCAS; he replied that Air Force pilots are trained "to always be looking
outside". The Air Force subsequently equipped a small number of C-141s with
TCAS. Synopsis:
An incomplete maintenance procedure led to
failure of the left wing structure during ground refueling.
Two maintenance workers were injured. While preparing for an Operation "Enduring Freedom" mission
to Ramstein AB, Germany ,
maintenance personnel found a fuel leak in the aircraft’s left wing, near #2
engine pylon. A fuel cell maintenance specialist
team was called and repaired the leak.
On completion of the repair procedure, on of the technicians failed to
remove the left wing fuel tank vent plug, as required by the T.O. Later in the day, the aircraft was refueled prior to the
Ramstein mission. During the refueling
process, trapped fuel vapor overpressurized the fuel tanks, causing the failure
of the wing structure, and > of the wing.
There was no fire.
Approximately 3300 gallons of fuel was
spilled onto the ramp and drained into a nearby creek.
Two maintenance workers were injured, one
with a broken leg and the other with a strained shoulder. The entire C-141 fleet was immediately grounded, pending
investigation. The investigators noted
that the unit was stretched thin due to a high operations tempo, with 4 of 5
assigned aircraft and the majority of the unit already deployed.
They noted that two supervisors signed off on
the repair without actually inspecting the work.
The aircraft was declared a total loss and
was dismantled.
Over the years, the C-141 fleet has experienced many mishaps
that did not result in the destruction of the aircraft.
Of these incidents, many are interesting from
an accident prevention aspect. The
following incidents were selected for their significance or interest. Synopsis:
While climbing to cruise altitude the
pressure door failed, causing an explosive depressurization.
The severely damaged aircraft was recovered
with only minor injuries. The crew had departed Wake Island .
Shortly after climbing through FL330, the
crew heard a loud bang. They felt an
immediate loss of pressurization with dense condensation fog and a rush of
air. The pressure door had failed.
Both petal doors had separated from the
aircraft. A baggage pallet, aircraft
equipment, and loose debris had been blown out the opening and had fallen into
the ocean below. The flight deck crew immediately began an emergency
descent. They descended through 10,000
feet within four minutes, and then continued to 4,500 feet for a damage
assessment. The loadmasters assisted
passengers with oxygen. The crew dumped
fuel to reduce landing weight. They then
flew a straight-in ILS approach to a safe landing.
Only one passenger failed to respond to
oxygen, but he later recovered. Investigators determined that a design deficiency existed in
the ramp/pressure door latching mechanism.
Only four of 13 hooks had connected the pressure door and ramp.
These four hooks had failed under a pressure
of several thousand pounds. This
accident lead to several redesigns of the pressure door and door latching
mechanisms, eventually leading to the present corrugated door design.
The aircraft was flown back to Warner-Robbins
AFB for repairs, minus the pressure and petal doors, at 200 knots.
Synopsis:
During an enroute stop, the aircraft was
boarded by a hijacker, who took several crew members hostage.
The hijacker shot the Loadmaster.
In a subsequent struggle, the crew members
overpowered the hijacker. Only the
Loadmaster was injured. The Starlifter was waiting for cargo during an enroute stop
at Bien Hoa AB, RVN. The Aircraft
Commander was at command post. The other
six crew members were relaxing in the cargo compartment when a 20-year-old US
Army Private entered through the open ramp, carrying an M-16.
He ordered the crew into the cockpit and
demanded that they fly him "somewhere".
When the crew attempted to taxi, vehicles blocked their path.
The hijacker ordered the Loadmaster into the
cargo compartment, and then shot him three times.
The crew advised authorities that the
Loadmaster had been shot. The vehicles
moved, and then again blocked the aircraft. The crew was able to communicate over headsets without the
knowledge of the hijacker. At a
prearranged time, the Navigator grabbed the rifle barrel, as the Copilot and
Flight Engineer lunged for the hijacker.
In the struggle, 13 rounds were fired into the cockpit ceiling.
The crew members were able to overpower and disarm
the hijacker before turning him over to the Security Police.
The Loadmaster survived, but was medically
discharged. There were no other serious
injuries. There has been at least one additional hijacking attempt of
a C-141, also during the war in Vietnam. Synopsis:
The "A" model aircraft was in cruise when a
couple jolts were felt. The pilot disconnected
the autopilot and yaw damper. The
aircraft entered a violent yaw and subsequent vertical dive.
The pilot regained control and recovered the
aircraft with only minor injuries to the crew. While cruising at FL390, and without warning, the aircraft
nose swung sharply to the right. The
pilot disconnected the autopilot, and yaw damper.
The Dutch Roll became worse.
He started a descent and regained control at
FL310. The #2 and #3 yaw damper rate
gyros were replaced and the write-up was signed off. The next day while returning to home base, cruising at
FL410, the crew felt a couple small jolts.
They disconnected the autopilot and waited.
After a few moments when nothing more was
felt, they reconnected the autopilot.
Moments later the nose slammed violently to the right.
The pilot disconnected the autopilot and yaw
damper. He attempted to control the
Dutch Roll with aileron. Within seconds
the aircraft was partially inverted. The
rolling and yawing continued as pitch reached 90 degrees nose down.
Loose objects flew around the cockpit.
The crew bunk mattress and the Navigator
wound up lying across the instrument panel, hindering vision and control
movements. The pilot regained control and recovered from the high-speed
dive at 17,000 feet. The crew performed
a controllability check and recovered the aircraft to the nearest military
base. Large pieces of the upper wing
skin and pieces of both petal doors were missing.
Flight recorder data indicated "G" loadings
of +3.18 to -3.52 and a maximum of 450 KIAS.
Investigators were unable to confirm the maximum Mach, but suspect that
it exceeded Mach 1.0. Accident investigators found that the aircraft had
experienced seven yaw related flight control malfunctions, none given a red
"X".A dual malfunction of the autopilot
junction box and the yaw damper control panel caused intermittent spurious
signals to the yaw damper, yet gave a satisfactory test indication.
Synopsis:
Shortly after a heavyweight takeoff, #3 engine
experienced an uncontained engine failure, causing #4 engine to fail, and
starting a cargo fire. The crew was able
to maintain control, clean up the aircraft and return to the airport on two
engines. There were no injuries. Passing 700’ during a heavyweight takeoff from Richmond
RAAFB to Pago Pago, the #3 engine experienced an uncontained engine
failure. Parts of #3 engine penetrated
#4 engine, instantly causing it to also fail.
Parts also penetrated the cargo compartment, starting a cargo fire within
a pallet of household goods. The
Aircraft Commander, in the right seat, took control of the aircraft as the
aircraft started losing airspeed and altitude.
Initially planning to crash land, the AC turned toward a nearby
riverbed. With the two good engine
throttles firewalled the aircraft continued to descend.
#3 engine was dangling from the pylon and on
fire. #4 engine was peppered with holes.
The wing was leaking fuel. The aircraft continued to descend into the riverbed.
In a final effort to keep flying, while still
expecting a crash landing, the pilot elected to slowly retract the flaps.
As the flaps retracted the airspeed
stabilized, then increased. The aircraft
stopped descending well below airfield elevation, just above the riverbed.
As they started a climb, the crew had lost
sight of the airbase. They requested
directions back to the airfield from tower, but were out of sight of the
tower. An Australian C-130 in the
traffic pattern gave them vectors to the runway. In the cargo compartment, the loadmasters grabbed
walk-around oxygen bottles and fire extinguishers.
They fired the fire extinguishers into the
pallet, while other crew members formed a fire brigade refilling oxygen bottles.
Smoke filled the cargo compartment, reducing
visibility to less than four feet. Smoke
was filling the cockpit. The pilot
attempted to open the ram air door, but it was stuck.
He was about to open the pilot’s window, when
the navigator reached up and opened the sextant port.
This quickly and effectively rid the cockpit
of smoke. With the remaining two good engines operating at "Firewall
Thrust", the pilots maintained control of the aircraft and set up for a visual
straight-in. The aircraft landed
trailing engine parts and fuel. The crew
and passengers evacuated successfully.
The local fire department extinguished the fire. Until this accident, the technique of "milking up" the flaps
on a multiple engine failure had never been taught, and was not an officially
recognized procedure. The crew members each
received the Air Medal. Synopsis:
After landing, the failure of a brake system
part caused a hydraulic leak and subsequent fire, made worse by an aircraft
design deficiency. The crew made an uneventful PAR approach to
NAS China Lake, California .
During landing rollout, the Engineer noticed
the failure of #2 Hydraulic system. The
crew brought the aircraft to a stop on the runway and selected "Emergency
Brakes". With normal gear indications
and pressure on #3 Hydraulic system, the crew decided to clear the runway
before shutting down the engines. As
they cleared the runway, #3 Hydraulic system failed.
The pilot used reverse thrust to stop the
aircraft. The scanner deplaned to pin
the gear and was met by members of the base fire department, who told him the
aircraft was on fire and to evacuate the aircraft.
The crew quickly completed the "Fire on the
Ground" emergency checklist and evacuated the plane without injury.
The base fire department extinguished the fire,
but not before it had caused substantial damage to the aircraft. Because they had flown a PAR, the crew was still on approach
control frequency and had not switched to tower frequency, before the loss of
the #2 Hydraulic system. They did not
hear the urgent warnings from the tower on "Guard", because neither pilot was
monitoring the frequency. The Engineer,
who was monitoring Guard, was distracted by the emergency, and also failed to
hear the tower’s warnings. Investigators found that a brake swivel, on the right
landing gear, had separated, spraying #2 Hydraulic system fluid on the brake
and starting a fire. As designed, the
fluid stopped automatically when the hydraulic fuse set after 20 cubic inches
(approximately 11 fl. oz.) of fluid had sprayed out of the swivel.
Under the brake system design at the time,
the Emergency Brake system was not fuse protected.
While the fire would have gone out almost
immediately, after the #2 Hydraulic system fuse set, the selecting of
"Emergency Brakes" dumped the full pressurized fluid of #3 Hydraulic System on
to the fire, greatly intensifying it. As a result of this incident the brake design was modified
to fuse protect both Normal
and Emergency brake systems (see illustration) Synopsis:
The aircraft suffered a gear malfunction that
made it impossible to retract the right main gear.
The crew worked a plan for a long-range
overwater recovery and safe landing in
New Zealand
There were no injuries. Flying a round trip mission to McMurdo Station from
Christchurch New Zealand, the C-141 had experienced a rougher than normal
rollout after landing on the ice runway.
Two hours later, they prepared for departure.
After takeoff, but before retracting the
landing gear, the copilot noticed an unsafe right main gear indication.
A scan of the gear showed that the right main
gear strut assembly had failed. The
right main gear strut had separated from the cylinder and remained attached to
the aircraft only by the scissors.
Unable to retract the landing gear, and faced with a likely
crash-landing in Antarctica, the crew started a climb toward
New Zealand , and using a
"Conference Skyhook" consulted with Lockheed experts.
After initially climbing to FL200 at 235
Knots, they quickly realized that their fuel consumption was still too high.
At the suggestion of the Lockheed experts,
they eventually retracted the nose and left main landing gears.
After some experimentation, the pilot found
that the aircraft began to buffet above .62 Mach.
He continued the climb, eventually reaching
FL350. The improved fuel flow not only
assured landfall in southern New Zealand ,
but also would allow for recovery to Christchurch . After further consultation, the experts recommended an all
landing gear down landing. The crew
began the descent with only enough fuel for one approach.
As the aircraft settled on the right landing
gear, the boogie separated from the aircraft.
The copilot used the fire handles to shutdown the outboard engines.
The aircraft came to a stop with 4000 feet of
runway remaining. The passengers and
crew evacuated without injury. Synopsis:
Departing Lajes AB , the
aircraft suffered a major malfunction to the left main landing gear.
After dumping fuel and jettisoning cargo, the
crew made a successful landing, with only minor damage to the aircraft.
The crew and passengers evacuated with no
injuries. Taking off from Lajes AB, Azores , the left
main gear inner strut separated from the outer strut and hung from the aircraft
by only the scissors. The Copilot
initially failed to notice an unsafe boogie indication and retracted the
landing gear. When the red light in
landing gear handle stayed on, a scan of the gear confirmed the seriousness of
the malfunction. The Aircraft Commander
initiated a Conference Skyhook. With
45,000 pounds of cargo, the approach speed would be too high for a safe
landing. Fuel was insufficient for a
recovery at a more favorable base. After
consultation, the crew jettisoned the ten pallets of cargo, including one
two-pallet train, then jettisoned fuel down to 15,000 lbs.
It was the first time that palletized cargo
had been jettisoned from a C-141 during an emergency. The crew prepared for the landing by securing loose
equipment and ensuring the passengers were belted.
They opened the side escape hatches and
pressure door. A straight-in approach
was made. As the wheels touched down,
the left boogie broke away. The aircraft
settled on the runway. It came to rest
on the centerline with 4500 feet of runway remaining.
The crew and 24 passengers evacuated without
injury. There have been at least two more landing gear separation incidents.
One incident occurred at McGuire AFB in 1983,
and another happened during a mission from Howard AFB to Warner-Robbins AFB in
the late 1980’s. Synopsis:
The highly experienced crew was returning to
base from a stateside airdrop mission. During
some horseplay, cigar ash was introduced into a crew oxygen hose.
The resulting oxygen-fed fire ignited floor
coverings and filled the cockpit with dense sooty smoke.
After some difficulties, the crew was able to
recover the aircraft with only minor injuries. Returning from Pope to Norton after an airdrop mission, the
pilot in the left seat decided to light a cigar.
The pilot, in the jumpseat, complained and
donned his oxygen mask. In response, the
left seater covertly disconnected the jumpseater’s mask from the oxygen
regulator hose, with the intent of putting smoke into the hose.
Accidentally, lit cigar ash entered the
oxygen regulator hose, before the hose was reconnected.
The jumpseater smelled the smoke and selected
"Emergency" on the oxygen regulator.
When that didn’t help, he removed the mask to clear the smoke.
When he disconnected the mask from the
regulator hose, a "2-foot" sheet of fire leapt from the hose.
It ignited an oxygen-fed fire that spread to
the flooring. To put out the fire, the
left seat pilot shut off the crew oxygen system.
At about the same time, the engineer while
switching to "MAX" airflow, inadvertently hit the bleed duct overheat test
switch, shutting off the engine bleed valves and disabling the air-conditioning
packs. The crew started a descent but
soon became hypoxic. The crew oxygen
system was again turned on. The fire
reignited with a fireball large enough to melt components on the Flight
Engineer’s panel. The crew eventually
extinguished the fire, reset the bleed valves, and recovered to the nearest
military base. Members of the crew suffered only minor injuries
(but major embarrassment). Synopsis:
Distractions, during a practice "Approach
Flap" landing, led the crew to land with the landing gear retracted. The highly experienced crew of an Instructor Pilot, an
upgrading Instructor Pilot, and two Engineers had planned an Instructor Upgrade
training mission from Altus AFB, Oklahoma to
Amarillo Int’l Airport, Texas .
Maintenance problems prior to takeoff delayed the mission departure, and
necessitated the latter portion of the mission to be flown after
nightfall. Near the end of the training
mission, with the Upgrading Instructor instructing from the left seat, he
briefed an Approach Flap touch-and-go followed by a departure back to
Altus for a No-Flap full
stop landing. Turning on to final the crew lowered the flaps to
"Approach", but an extraneous radio call from tower broke the crew’s
concentration and habit pattern. The
upgrading Instructor failed to direct landing gear extension and accomplishment
of the "Before Landing Checklist". Still
distracted, none of the other crew members noticed the omission.
Because of this omission, the "Landing Gear
Warning Horn Cutout Switch" was not returned to the "Normal "
position. If a normal approach had been
planned using "Landing Flaps", the Landing Gear Warning Horn would have warned
the crew of the retracted landing gear.
This warning system was not available with Approach Flaps selected. With no warning of retracted landing gear available, the
crew completed a normal approach and flare.
The aircraft settled smoothly on its belly.
The crew was initially unaware anything
unusual had happened, until notified by the tower that they were trailing a
large number of sparks. The aircraft
came to a controlled stop and the crew evacuated successfully.
Aircraft damage was limited to a 6"-8" strip
along the belly and damage to the drain masts below #1 and #4 engines.
The aircraft was repaired and returned to
service. This incident was one of several MAC gear-up incidents
occurring within several months, and only shortly after Approach Flap landings
were approved for use by C-141 flight crews.
The installation of GPWS has reduced the possibility of similar
accidents. The GPWS Mode 4 provides a
retracted landing gear warning to the crew, as they pass 500 feet on the radar
altimeter Synopsis:
The crew of a diverting C-141 attempted a
landing at Iwakuni AB in high crosswinds and blowing snow.
Due to improper technique, the pilot lost control
of the aircraft after touchdown. The
aircraft departed the runway, experiencing heavy damage.
The crew and passengers evacuated safely. The mishap mission had started at Iwakuni AB
Japan .
The crew had departed for a mission to Kadena AB,
Okinawa . Nearing
Kadena, the winds are reported out of limits for landing.
The crew decided to divert back to their
alternate of Iwakuni. The weather at
Iwakuni had deteriorated; reported weather included high crosswinds and heavy
blowing snow. The pilot elected to use
"Approach Flaps" for the landing due to the turbulence and crosswinds. After touchdown the pilot forcefully held forward yoke
pressure, to maintain control of the aircraft in the crosswinds.
The Thrust Reversers and Spoilers failed to
deploy. The pilot attempted to use the
brakes, with no effect. The forward yoke
forces had lifted the main gear off the runway.
The touchdown relay inhibited the Thrust Reversers and Spoilers from
deploying beyond the flight limit. The
brakes also were useless until the main gear finally contacted the runway.
Believing he had lost Normal Brakes, the
pilot directed the copilot to select Emergency Brakes, disabling anti-skid
protection. When the main landing gear finally contacted the runway, the
thrust reversers, spoilers and brakes all acted at once.
The pilot lost control of the aircraft on the
snow slickened runway and the aircraft departed the runway.
The landing gear >d, the right wing
suffered severe damage and the #4 engine separated from the wing.
The crew and passengers evacuated
successfully. Two years later, in 1989, the undamaged right wing from the
aircraft damaged at Travis in October 1986, was removed and replaced the wing
damaged in this accident. This aircraft
was returned to flight status. Synopsis:
The C-141 came within seconds of being shot down
by anti-aircraft missiles, following a mix-up with diplomatic clearances and
misidentification as hostile by foreign military authorities.
The attack was called off at the last second
when airborne foreign fighter aircraft spotted the
US flag on the tail of the C-141. There were no injuries. The Norton AFB based crew
had departed on a multi-stop "embassy-run" mission to Africa .
Prior to departing Charleston , the crew had sought a full
mission brief from Charleston MAC Command Post.
They were handed a photocopy of the world atlas map of Africa and the
Command Post Officer offered the observation, "Dakar is a great crew rest".
The mission itinerary was: Charleston-Bermuda-Dakar, Senegal -Robert’s
Field, Liberia-Kinshasa, Zaire-Niamey Niger-Kinshasa-Bermuda-Charleston. At Dakar, no flight plan was available for the Kinshasa-Niamey leg.
The crew was provided diplomatic clearances
for Zaire ,
Central African Republic , and
Chad , but not for the destination country of
Niger .
Prior to takeoff from Kinshasa,
the crew unsuccessfully attempted to contact MAC command and control for the
Niger
diplomatic clearance, using both phone and HF radio.
They elected to depart Kinshasa
on schedule, planning to get the dip clearance enroute, and if necessary hold
outside Niger
airspace, until they received clearance.
Enroute, they continued to attempt HF radio contact with any Global HF
radio station, to no avail. They
maintained normal VHF ATC communications. The standard routing to Niamey is north from Kinshasa through the
Central African Republic , crossing southwestern
Chad and into Niger. Shortly after passing the N’ While generally aware of hostilities between
Libya and Chad, the crew was unaware of the recent fighting in southern
Chad. Only two days before, one of two Libyan Tu-22
bombers had been shot down during an attack on N’ Investigation revealed that the diplomatic clearances
provided to the crew were over two years old.
USAF Intelligence had not be monitoring the war between
Chad and Libya
and believed that the fighting was only in northern
Chad .
21st Air Force Flight Planners had provided
incorrect flight plans for the mission. The use of Mode 4 or other authentication documents was not a factor in
the incident, as the French and
Chad military would not have had the proper codes, with which to authenticate the
US aircraft. The crew was released, after
interrogation by French military and US embassy personnel, and continued the
mission to Niger (this time with a correct diplomatic clearance).
While no known connection exists, the
governments of Chad and
Libya
signed a cease-fire agreement the next day, September 11th.
Synopsis:
Soon after takeoff, the aircraft began an uncommanded
pitch-up due to a jammed stabilizer.
Skillful airmanship enabled the Aircraft Commander to land the
aircraft. There were no injuries. The crew was flying an early Desert Storm mission from El
Toro MCAS, California to Europe, with a
refueling stop at Goose Bay
Newfoundland, Canada .
A few minutes after departure from
Goose Bay
the aircraft pitched up. At first, the
crew assumed a runaway pitch trim failure.
They accomplished Dash-1 procedures up to but not including
depressurizing of #2 Hydraulic System, but with no effect.
Unknown to the crew, the stabilizer had
jammed in a full nose-up position.
Unable to overcome the stabilizer’s input, even with full nose-down
elevator, the Aircraft Commander attempted to bring the nose down and maintain
airspeed by rolling the aircraft into a turn.
Utilizing bank to control pitch attitude, he initiated a series of
descending turns, while maneuvering the aircraft back to Name
Goose Bay.
Nearing the runway, he successfully completed
a firm but controlled landing, with no injuries and no additional damage to the
aircraft. Maintenance found extensive mechanical damage to the
stabilizer mechanism in the upper T-tail. Synopsis:
During a UN support mission into
Sarajevo , the aircraft received
damage from small arms fire while on final approach for landing.
They completed the landing, accomplished a
quick damage assessment, and departed.
During departure, they received more hostile fire.
The crew was able to nurse the crippled
aircraft back to Germany ,
without injury. The aircraft was supporting UN relief operations in
Bosnia-Herzegovina. At 200 feet, on
final to the short runway, at Sarajevo ,
the Loadmaster reported seeing small-arms fire from the north.
Seconds later, the ground fire began to
concentrate on the aircraft, and the Loadmaster could feel the aircraft being
hit. Uncertain of the aircraft’s
condition, the Pilot continued to land. During the rollout, the crew accomplished a quick battle
damage assessment. With the airport
still under attack, and no significant damage, the crew advised tower of their
intent to make an immediate takeoff. The
crew turned the aircraft around on the runway.
Climbing at the optimum angle, the pilot attempted to maneuver away from
the ground fire to the north. At 1000
feet, the Loadmaster again reported ground fire, this time from the south.
The Engineer reported the loss of #2
Hydraulic System. The Scanner discovered
fuel streaming from the Left Aux. and Extended Range
fuel tanks. Accomplishing the emergency
checklists, and maneuvering away from the threat, the crew accomplished another
battle damage assessment. With loss of
#2 Hydraulic System, and resulting loss of normal gear extension capability,
loss of antiskid brakes, and damage to the pressurization system, the crew
decided to return to Rhein-Main AB, in Germany.
They completed the emergency checklists and began a climb to FL240 to
avoid thunderstorms. Approaching Rhein-Main, the crew manually lowered the gear
and flew an autopilot-coupled approach.
They completed the landing, with fuel still pouring from the wings.
Maintenance crews discovered 16 entrance and
6 exit bullet holes. This incident is
the most serious case of hostile fire damage to a C-141 aircraft in over thirty
years of operations. Synopsis:
Soon after level-off on a UN relief mission,
the aircraft started experiencing multiple systems failures.
The crew identified a fire within the #4
engine pylon. When shutting down the
engine failed to put out the fire, they began a high-speed emergency descent
and visual approach. The crew evacuated
safely. The mission was scheduled as a UN relief mission to Zagreb, Yugoslavia
from Skopje
Macedonia .
Soon after takeoff, the jumpseat pilot
thought he smelled smoke, but the odor soon went away.
Passing 17,000 feet, the Engineer noticed a
differential fault in the #4 generator; it was disconnected.
Passing FL230, #1 hydraulic system failed.
Moments later, they had indications of a
right bleed duct overheat. Scanning the
wing, the jumpseater thought he saw a light coming from a hole in the pylon of
#4 engine. When the throttles were
retarded, the light went out momentarily, and then came back.
The #4 engine was immediately shutdown with
the fire handle. The light in the pylon
flickered, and then came back again. The crew requested an emergency descent and vectors to the
nearest airport, from Athens Control.
They were advised that they were almost directly above Thessoloniki
airport. The pilot began a high-speed
descent, descending to 3000 feet in 90 seconds and reaching a VVI of over
18,000 fpm. As they rolled out for the
visual approach, they had a hard time locating the airport among the city
lights. Still at over 460 Knots
airspeed, they acquired the runway at 3 miles.
The aircraft was configured and landed at Thessoloniki, only four
minutes after the original distress radio call.
The nine Reserve crew members and 16 passengers evacuated safely.
td> Analysis of the C-141 hull-loss mishaps provides useful insight
into the operational hazards that have lead to the destruction of the
aircraft. Twenty-one aircraft have been
destroyed in 20 incidents. The most
common cause of C-141 mishaps has been human error.
Human factors were a cause in over 70% of the
hull-loss mishaps. Three aircraft were
destroyed either during or as a result of routine fuel tank maintenance.
Eleven aircraft were destroyed in aircrew
related human factors mishaps. Weather
and mechanical failure accounted for less than 25% of hull-loss mishaps.
Only three aircraft were destroyed in
accidents related to the C-141’s military mission. Comparison of annual fleet hours and mishap rates reveals
that during the years of highest fleet hours (1968-72, 90-91), mishap rate
remained low. The C-141 fleet suffered
its worst period of high mishap rates during the years following
Vietnam ,
from 1973 to 1979, during the era of the so-called "hollow force".
During most of the 1980s and early 1990s, the
rates remained in a fairly constant range.
Mishap rates spiked again during the draw down
of the late 1990s. The most common human factors mishap in the C-141 is
Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT).
29% of all hull-loss and 45% of the human factors related mishaps were
due to CFIT. The Air Force lost one
C-141 a year, three years in a row (1973-75) due to CFIT mishaps.
CFIT is also a significant factor in the loss
of civilian airliners. With the
introduction of a Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS), the rate of CFIT
accidents was reduced dramatically. In
the two CFIT mishaps since GPWS, the GPWS warnings were ignored or responded to
improperly. Air traffic control has been a factor in 5 of the 15
operational hull-loss mishaps. In two
mishaps, unresolved confusion over an ATC clearance directly led to the
mishap. In two other mishaps, improper
procedures and poor communications were cited as factors. Other factors are significant to the C-141 loss
experience. Nearly 50% of the mishaps
occurred at night. Instrument
Meteorological Conditions (IMC) was a factor in almost half of the operational
mishaps of the C-141. Fatigue is a constant hazard of the strategic airlift
mission. Long duty days and multiple
time zones are standard experiences for airlift crews.
In almost half of the aircrew human factors
mishaps, fatigue was a contributor to the mishap. Analysis of the hull-loss incidents reveals an increased
incidence of hull-losses during spring and then again late summer and early
fall. There is no obvious correlation
among the incidents during these periods of the year. Also significant to the Starlifter mishap experience, are
events that have not occurred: No C-141 has been lost to hostile forces in a
combat situation, even though it has frequently participated in direct combat
operations, such as: Vietnam , Grenada , and Panama A significant percentage of C-141 flight time
occurs on long oceanic flights. No
Starlifter crew has ever been forced to ditch in the open ocean.
The life rafts have never been used in an
actual mishap. Where serious incidents
have occurred overwater, the crew has always been able to recover to an
airport. No crew has experienced a land survival
situation, nor has a planned bailout ever occurred during an emergency. A Starlifter has never been lost due to a single malfunction of either a system or engine. This says a lot for the systems reliability of the aircraft and the
professionalism of the aircrews. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana Originally developed as a flight safety initiative of the
728th Airlift Squadron, the purpose of this briefing has been to provide
historical mishap information for the C-141 crewmember.
Understanding an aircraft’s mishap history is
critical to operational hazard awareness, and future flight safety.
The best preventative of future mishaps is to
understand the mishaps that have occurred, and awareness of the associated
hazards. The C-141 has an exemplary safety record.
The fleet has logged more than 10 million
flight hours. It has operated in every
military operation since 1963, including Vietnam ,
Lebanon , Desert Storm,
Panama , Grenada ,
and Haiti ,
as well as several lesser operations. It
is regularly employed in combat support and humanitarian relief missions. Twenty-one C-141 airframes have been lost in the over thirty
years of operational service. Analysis
of the C-141 hull-loss mishaps indicates that the most serious threat to the aircraft
has been Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT).
Mission mishap factors can also affect
flight safety, including IMC, night operations, and crew fatigue. In operational service, the aircraft has experienced a
multitude of mishaps short of aircraft hull-loss.
When a mechanical failure has occurred, the
professionalism and training of the aircrew has been the critical factor in the
safe recovery of the aircraft. It is the
resourcefulness and skill of the crew that has made the difference between a
major accident and a minor incident. The mishap hazards experienced by the C-141 have not changed
significantly during the career of the aircraft.
Neither are the majority of hazards unique to
the C-141. The mishap experience of the
Starlifter closely parallels the experience of other similar aircraft, both
military and civilian. Knowledge of
these hazards will improve the crewmember awareness and ability to successfully
deal with them. It is to that end this
briefing was developed. Author’s Note:
The above accidents and incidents have been
extensively researched using public documents and personal accounts.
Unfortunately Air Force Safety Office policy
excluded the use of the official accident reports from this briefing.
Hence factual errors may exist in the
accident narratives. The author has made
every attempt to ensure the accuracy of this briefing.
In many cases, however, details are hazy or
lost to time. The author is interested
in any published information or first-hand information that readers could
provide about these or of other incidents that might deserve inclusion in this
briefing. (Email:pmhansen@compuserve.com)
In Memoriam
The following aircrew and maintenance personnel lost their
lives in C-141 Hull-Loss mishaps. This
is not an official list. Data was
compiled from published public sources.
Arensman, Harold D "Flying the Heavies", Flying Safety Magazine, Dec. 1994, p. 7 AFI 91-204, Safety Investigations and Reports, 29 November 1999, pp. 28-38, 42-46, 87-88 "More Mods for the Starlifter", The MAC Flyer, May 1983, pp. 20-23 United States Military Aircraft, Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough, Peter Bowers, 1989, pp. 399-400 "F-16 Year in Review", Flying Safety Magazine, Jan. 1995, p. 16 "Providing America’s Global Reach", Flying Safety Magazine, Feb./Mar. 1996, pp. 7-10 "2 Killed, 4 hurt as McChord Starlifter Explodes, Burns", News Tribune, Tacoma WA , Sept. 7, 1966, pp. A1-2 "Fire Victims Identified By Air Force", News Tribune, Tacoma WA , Sept. 8, 1966, pp. A-12 Cover The MAC Flyer, Mar. 1967, "1966 Accident Review", The MAC Flyer, Mar. 1967, pp. 12-13 Photo Credit: USAF Photo "5 Tacomans on C-141 Die in VN Collision, Fire", News Tribune, Tacoma WA , Mar. 23, 1967, pp. A1-2 "McChord Plane Destroyed", News Tribune, Tacoma WA , Mar. 23, 1967, p. A1 "The 1967 Aircraft Accident Review", The MAC Flyer, Mar. 1968, p. 5 Da Nang Vietnam, 11-1, Jeppesen Sanderson Inc, 4 Jul. 1997 Photo Credit: Unknown "7 Missing in VN Crash of Starlifter", News Tribune, Tacoma Apr. 13, 1967, p. A-1 "Bodies of 3 More C-141 Victims Found", News Tribune, Tacoma WA , Apr. 15, 1967, p.A-2 "The 1967 Aircraft Accident Review", The MAC Flyer, Mar. 1868, p. 6 T.O. 1C-141A, p. 1-108 "24 Listed Killed on Air Force Jet", Asbury Park Evening Press, Asbury Park NJ , 8 Aug. 29, 1973 "Solo Un Superviviente", Arriba, Madrid Spain, Aug. 30, 1973, pp. 1-2 "La noche de los 24 muertos", La City Actuslidad, Madrid Spain AUG 30, 1973, pp. 2-3 Cover, McGuire AirTides, Aug. 31 1973 "Air Force Probes C-141 Tragedy", The Leader, Sept. 6, 1973, p. 13 "Accident Rates for 1973", The MAC Flyer, Mar. 1974, p. 11 "The Final Error", The MAC Flyer, Mar. 1974, pp. 16-18 "Conspiracy for Disaster", The MAC Flyer, June 1976, pp. 9-11 "Communication-Your Life May Depend on It" The MAC Flyer "Military Aviation Disasters", Gero, David, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Haynes Pub., Newburg Park, CA, 1999, p. 113-4 437 MAW History, Chap. 6, 1974, pp. 59-62 "The Secret of Cordillera Real ", The MAC Flyer, Mar. 1975, pp. 18-20 "McChord plane, 16 aboard, crashes", The Seattle Times, Seattle WA , Mar. 21, 75, p. A1 "Air-Control mistake sent 16 to icy death", News Tribune , Tacoma WA , Mar. 24, 75, p. A1 "C-141 crash left seven widows", News Tribune, Tacoma WA , Mar. 24, 75, p. A1 "Wrong Orders may have Doomed Jet", The Seattle Times, Seattle WA , Mar. 24, 75, p. A1 "Fatal Message: ’ Maintain 5,000’", The Seattle Times, Seattle WA , Mar. 25, 75, p. A4 "Out of Ten for Five", The MAC Flyer, Aug. 75, pp. 8-9 "Risk Awareness or Blind Faith", The MAC Flyer, Nov. 79, pp. 18-21 "Let’s Hear it for the Heavies", Flying Safety Magazine, Nov. 83, p. 10 "Mountain ministry honors fallen airmen, sailors", Northwest Airlifter, McChord AFB WA, 6/10/2000, p.11 "Military Aviation Disasters", Gero, David, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Haynes Pub., Newburg Park, CA, 1999, p. 116 Map Credit: The Seattle Times Photo Credit:Unknown "Officials Rule Out Sabotage In Two Fatal Air Disasters", New York Daily News, New York , Aug. 29, 76 "Two Air Force Jet Crashes Kill 39", Daily Record, Morristown NJ , Aug. 29,76 "2 McGuire Jets Crash, Killing 39", Bulletin , Philadelphia PA , Aug. 29, 76 "McGuire takeoff times weren’t minutes apart", Sunday Times Advertiser, Trenton, NJ "Air Force plane crashes kill 2 Bergen men", Hudson Dispatch, Union City NJ ,Aug. 29, 76 "McGuire AFB slates memorial services for crash victims", Courier-Post Dispatch, Camden NJ, Aug. 31, 76 "Rites held for 11 in air crash", Jersey Journal , Jersey City, NJ, Sept. 1,76 "Memorial set for airmen", Hudson Dispatch, Union City NJ, Sept. 1,76 "Air Force to mourn victims", Star Ledger, Newark NJ, Sept. 1, 76 "McGuire goes about business, but remembers victims", Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA , Sept. 2, 76 "From the 438th Wing Commander", McGuire AirTides, Sept. 3, 76, p. 3 Cover photo, The MAC Flyer, Nov. 76 "Fire and Rain", The MAC Flyer, Dec. 76, pp. 13-15 "Illusion of Danger", The MAC Flyer, Jan. 77, pp. 8-9 "Accident Statistics for 1976", The MAC Flyer, Apr. 77, pp. 20-21 "Detour T-Storms", Aerospace Safety Magazine, May 77, p. 12 "DEJA VU-Sondrestrom", The MAC Flyer, Sept. 77, p. 23 Aerodrome/Facility Directory, US Government Printing Office, p. B212 Sondrestromfjord 19-02, 19-03, Jeppesen Sanderson Inc. Military Aviation Disasters, Gero, David, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Haynes Pub., Newburg Park, CA, 1999, p. 121-2 Photo Credits: Unknown 437 MAW History, Chap. 6, 1979, pp. 78-81 "Accident Statistics for 1979", The MAC Flyer, Apr. 80, p. 9 "McChord crew killed in Egypt plane crash", Seattle Times, 11 Nov. 13, 80 "6 local airmen killed in crash", News Tribune, Tacoma WA , Nov. 13, 80, p. A1 "Egypt pins fatal U.S. crash on mechanical problems", Seattle Times Nov. 14, 80, p. A10 "C-141 Crash Kills 13 in ‘Bright Star’", Air Force Times, Nov. 24, 80, p. 4 "1980 Mishap Statistics", The MAC Flyer, April 81, pp. 8-10 Military Aviation Disasters, Gero, David, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Haynes Pub., Newburg Park, CA, 1999, p. 128-9 Fire Destroys Stretched C-141", Air Force Times, Mar. 22, 82, p. 4 Recollection of Author "1980 Mishap Statistics", The MAC Flyer, Apr. 81, p. 10 "Missing Plane Found; No Survivors Reported", New York Times, New York Sept. 1, 1982 "Crash in Tennessee Kills Nine; Other Accidents Take Two Lives", Air Force Times, Sept. 13, 1982, p. 4 "Sadly, MAC Flight Mishaps Continue to Rise", The MAC Flyer, p. 31 437 MAW History, Chapter 6, 1982, pp. 73-76a "C-141", Flying Safety Magazine, May 83, p. 12 Map Credit: 437 MAW "9 Killed in Crash of U.S. Plane", Washington Post, Washington DC , July 13, 1984, p. A23 "U.S. Air Force C-141 transport plane crashes in Sicily; all nine abroad killed", San Bernardino Sun, San Bernardino CA , July 14, 1984 "C-141", Flying Safety Magazine, Apr. 85, pp. 18-19 Interview with the mishap Aircraft Commander "The Way it’s Done", The MAC Flyer, Sept. 89, pp. 24-26 Photo Credit: Unknown "Crew identified in crash of Norton C-141B", Press-Enterprise, Riverside CA , Feb. 22, 1989, p. B20 "Bodies of 6 crash victims recovered", Press-Enterprise, Riverside CA , Feb. 23, 1989, p. B2 "Air Force finds 6 of 8 bodies in crash", San Bernardino Sun, San Bernardino Feb. 23, 1989 "Bad weather linked to crash of Starlifter", Press-Enterprise, Riverside CA , Feb. 24, 1989, p. B8 "C-141 crashes during storm in swamp near Hurlburt", Air Force Times, Mar. 6, 1989, p. 10 Photo Credit: Associated Press Interview with crew members from aircraft #3 and #4 "2 Jet Crash Victims were from State", Seattle Times, Seattle WA , Dec. 2, 1992, p. A1 "Ceremony at McChord Salutes 13 Dead Airmen",
Seattle Times, Seattle WA , Dec. 4, 92, p. A1 "C-141, B-1 flights continue despite fatal accidents", Air Force Times, Dec. 14, 1992, p. 10 Gero, David, Military Aviation Disasters, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Haynes Pub., Newburg Park, CA, 1999, p. 157-8 Photo Credit: USAF Photo "Cargo plane burns in California", Arizona Republic , Phoenix AZ , Oct. 8, 1993, p. A10 "Cargo Jet burns at Travis before training Mission", San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco CA ,Oct. 8, 1993 Carolina AF Base Midair Crash Kills 16", Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles CA ,Mar. 24, 1994, p. A15 "15 Killed by skidding Jet after collision", Seattle Times, Seattle WA Mar. 24, 1994, p. A3 "15 Killed, 91 Injured by Skidding Jet", "G.I. Death toll at 20 in Air Base Crash", New York Times, New York, Mar. 25, 1994, p. 14 "AF Base Survivor: ’Fire was Everywhere’", Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles CA , Mar. 25, 1994, p. A23 "Heroes emerged in Fiery Tragedy at Air Force Base", Seattle Times, Seattle WA , Mar. 25, 1994, p. A12 "A U.S. Air Force F-16D" Aviation Week & space Technology, , Mar. 28, 1994, p. 17 "Did aircraft mix overburden Pope?", >Air Force Times, Apr. 11, 1994, p. 10 "Did volatile fuel take Pope lives?", Air Force Times, Apr. 18, 1994, "Collision of AF Jet, Cargo Plane Blamed on Controller Mistakes", Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles CA , June 22, 1994, p. A-13 "Flying the Heavies" Flying Safety Magazine, Dec. 94, p 6 Military Aviation Disasters Gero, David, , Patrick Stephens Ltd, Haynes Pub., Newburg Park, CA, 1999, p. 159 Photo Credits: USAF Photo Photo Credit: Associated Press/Fayetteville Observer-Times "Germany and the US lose Planes Off Africa", New York Times, New York NY , Sept. 15, 1997, p. A3 "Nine missing after C-141 disappears over Atlantic Ocean", AMC Press Release, Sept. 15, 1997 "Search continues for missing C-141", AMC Press Release, Sept. 15, 1997 "Mobility Task Force supports search-and-rescue efforts for missing C-141", AMC Press Release, Sept. 15, 1997 "Task Force supports C-141 search, rescue efforts", AMC Press Release, Sept. 15, 1997 "Debris Off Africa Is Linked To U.S. and German Planes", New York Times, New York NY , Sept. 16, 1997, p. A8 "Part of C-141 wing recovered in South Atlantic ", AMC Press Release, Sept. 16, 1997 "Confusion over mid-air smash", The Namibian, City Windhoek Namibia, Sept. 16, 1997 DOD News Briefing, Sept. 16, 1997 "Namibian boats lead search bid", The Namibian, Windhoek Namibia, Sept. 17, 1997 "Namibia denies air smash responsibility", The Namibian, Windhoek Namibia, Sept. 18, 1997 "German, US Aircraft Crash off African Coast ", Aviation Week, Sept. 22, 1997, p. 31 "Tupolev was flying at ‘wrong height’", "Angola clams up on crash inquiry", The Namibian, Windhoek Namibia, Sept. 24, 1997 "Probe team listen to Angolan Tapes", The Namibian, Windhoek Namibia, Sept. 25, 1997 "One Review of C-141 Crash Ends", Air Force Times, Nov. 3, 1997, p. 2 "Germans Study Flight Recorder", Air Force Times, Dec. 22, 1997, p. 2 "Kross: Fatal Crash Was Avoidable", Air Force Times, Mar. 23, 1998, p. 2 "USAF Cites Faulty Altitude As Cause of Africa Midair Crash", Aviation Week, Apr. 6, 1998, p. 59 "C-141 Crew is Cleared", Air Force Times, Apr. 13, 1998, p. 27 "Out of Africa ", Aviation Week, Apr. 13, 1998, p. 23 Military Aviation Disasters, Gero, David, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Haynes Pub., Newburg Park, CA, 1999, pp. 170-1 "Air Force Grounds Fleet of C-141s", The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN , Dec. 23, 2001, p B1 "Air Force Grounds C-141 jet fleet", CNN.com, Dec. 24, 2001, at CNN Web site "C-141s Flying Again After Wing Mishap", The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Dec 25, 2001, p. B1 "Briefly", The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN , Dec. 28, 2001, p. B32 "World News Roundup", Aviation Week, Jan. 7, 2002, p. 18 "C-141 Wing Mishap a Unique Event", Air Force Times, Jan. 7, 2002, p. 5 "Stretched to the Limit", Air Force Times, May 20, 2002, p 3, 12 Photo Credits: USAF Photos Interview with mishap aircraft’s Crew Chief "The 1967 Aircraft Accident Review", The MAC Flyer, Mar. 1968, pp. 4-5 "Hijacked", 446 AW Associate Press, Dec. 1991-Jan. 1992, pp. 1,8 Interview with mishap crew members "Good Show", The MAC Flyer, Feb. 1978, p. 23 Cover, The MAC Flyer, Mar. 1978 "A Long Ten Minutes", The MAC Flyer, Mar. 1978, pp. 4-6 "Accident Statistics for 1977", The MAC Flyer, Apr. 1978, pp. 4-5 "A Mayday in October", Airman Magazine, Sept. 1978, pp. 5-8 Interview with incident crew members "Dutch Roller Coaster", The MAC Flyer, Mar. 1977, pp. 17-19 "Let’s Hear It For The Heavies", Flying Safety Magazine, Nov. 1983, pp. 9-10 Photo Credit: USAF Photo Interview with mishap crew members "Keep Your Guard Up", The MAC Flyer, Feb. 1980, p. 23 "How to Plan a Crash Landing",The MAC Flyer, Feb. 1980, pp. 8-10 "MAC Safety Awards For Excellence in Airmanship", The MAC Flyer, July 1980, p. 18 "Six Short Rings at Lajes", The MAC Flyer, Oct. 1981, pp. 4-5 "Excellence in Airmanship", The MAC Flyer, Feb. 1982, p. 10 "1981 Mishap Statistics", The MAC Flyer, Apr. 1982, pp. 8-10 "Excellence in Airmanship", The MAC Flyer, Sept. 1983, pp. 22-23 Photo Credits: USAF Photos "Smoke(ing) Mask", The MAC Flyer, Jan. 83, p 30 "C-141", Flying Safety Magazine, May 83, pp. 14-15 Interview with mishap Aircraft Commander "Accident Statistics for 1979", The MAC Flyer, Apr. 1980, pp. 8-10 Interview with squadron crew members "Norton-based cargo plane damaged in snow landing", The Press-Enterprise, Riverside CA , Jan. 14, 1987, p. B7 "Remote crash site hampers searchers", Air Force Times, p. 33 "The Way it’s Done", The MAC Flyer, Sept. 1989, pp. 24-26 Photo Credits: Unknown Interview with mishap Aircraft Commander "Chad Says Troops are Razing Base Captured in Libya ", New York Times, New York NY , Sept. 7, 1987, p. A1 "Libyan Warplane is Downed in Chad by French Forces", New York Times, New York NY , Sept. 8, 1987, p. A1 "Libyan Plane Shot Down by French", Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles CA , Sept. 8, 1987, p. A7 "Chad , Libya Accept Truce Under OAU Sponsorship", Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles CA , Sept. 11, 1987, p. A1 "Chad and Libya in Pact but Clash Anew", New York Times,New York, NY , Sept. 12, 1987, p. A3 FLIP General Planning, US Government Printing Office, 1998 Interview with mishap Flight Engineer Interview with mishap Aircraft Commander "Airlifters under attack", Air Force Times, Aug. 8, 1994, p. 18 "Excellence in Airmanship", Mobility Forum, Mar.-Apr. 1995, pp. 32-33 Interview with incident crew members "Double Jeopardy", 446 AW Associate Press, Dec. 1995, p. 4-5 "Aircrew wins 15th Air Force Aircrew Excellence Award", 446 AW Associate Press, Mar. 1996, p. 4 "Flying the Heavies", Flying Safety Magazine, Dec. 1994, pp. 4-9 "F-16 Year in Review", Flying Safety Magazine, Jan. 1995, p. 16 "Providing America’s Global Reach", Flying Safety Magazine, Feb. 1996, pp. 7-10 "Statistics…C-141", Flying Safety Magazine, Dec. 1997- Jan. 1992, p. 18 "C-5/C-17/C-141", Flying Safety Magazine, Dec. 1997- Jan. 1998, p. 6 "The Stratlifters", Flying Safety Magazine, Jan.- Feb. 2000, p. 6-9 Magazine,"FY99 Stats" Flying Safety , Jan/Feb 2002, pp. 20-29 "USAF Class A and B Statistics" "The Strategic Airlifters", Flying Safety Magazine, Jan/Feb 2002, pp. 30-33 "FY01 Mishap Stats", Flying Safety Magazine, Jan/Feb 2002, pp. 20-29 Special Thanks to Robert Crouse, MSGT USAF (Ret), and George
Graham, MSGT USAF (Ret), for assistance with aspects of this document.Mildenhall AB England/1976
Date 28 Aug 1976 Cause: Thunderstorm Encounter Condition D/N Day
Wing/Base: 438 MAW/KWRI Location: Mildenhall AB England IMC/VMC IMC
Tail #: 67-0008 Fatalities: 14 Crew/4 Passengers Fatigue? No
Charleston AFB, SC/1979
Date 18 Sept 1979 Cause: Mechanical Failure Condition D/N Night
Wing/Base: 437 MAW/KCHS Location: Charleston AFB SC IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 64-0647 Fatalities: None Fatigue? No
Cairo West AB, Egypt/1980
Date 12 Nov 1980 Cause: Loss of Control Condition D/N Night Wing/Base: 62 MAW/KTCM Location: Cairo West AB Egypt IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 67-0030 Fatalities: 6 Crew/ 7 Pax Fatigue? Yes 
McEntire AAF SC, Egypt/1982
Date 7 Mar 1982 Cause: Mechanical Failure Condition D/N N/A
Wing/Base: 438 MAW/ WRI Location: McEntire AAF SC IMC/VMC N/A
Tail #: 67-0017 Fatalities: None Fatigue? N/A
Knoxville, TN/1982
Date 31 Aug 1982 Cause: CFIT Condition D/N Day
Wing/Base: 437 MAW/KCHS Location: Knoxville TN IMC/VMC IMC
Tail #: 64-0652 Fatalities: 9 Crew Fatigue? No
NAS Sigonella, Italy/1984
Date 12 Jul 1984 Cause: Multiple Engine Failure Condition D/N Day
Wing/Base: 315 MAW/CHS Location: NAS Sigonella Italy IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 64-0624 Fatalities: 8 Crew/1 Passenger Fatigue? No
Tavis AFB, CA/1986
Date 15 Oct 1986 Cause: Taxi Accident Condition D/N Night
Wing/Base: 439 MAW/KSUU Location: Travis AFB CA IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 65-0246 Fatalities: None Fatigue? No
Hurlburt Airfield, FL/1989
Date 20 Feb 1989 Cause: Controlled Flt into Terrain Condition D/N Night
Wing/Base: 63 MAW/KSBD Location: Hurlburt Airfield FL IMC/VMC IMC
Tail #: 66-0150 Fatalities: 7 Crew/1 Pax Fatigue? Yes
Pitch-12-13 degrees nose low
Flaps-Landing
VVI: 3000-4000 fpm
Throttles-Idle
Harlem Montana/1992
Date 1 Dec 1992 Cause: Mid-Air Collision Condition D/N Night
Wing/Base: 62 AW/KTCM Location: Near Harlem Montana IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 66-0142 & 65-0255 Fatalities: 13 Crew Fatigue? No
Travis ABB, CA/1993
Date 7 Oct 1993 Cause: Maintenance Error Condition D/N n/a
Wing/Base: 60AW/SUU Location: Travis AFB CA IMC/VMC n/a
Tail #: 50253 Fatalities: none Fatigue? N/a
Pope AFB, NC/1994
Date 23 Mar 1994 Cause: Ground Accident Condition D/N n/a
Wing/Base: 438AW/ WRI Location: Pope AFB NC IMC/VMC n/a
Tail #: 60173 Fatalities: 23 Fatigue? N/a
Near Namibia Africa/1997
Date 13 Sep 1997
Cause: Mid Air Collision
Condition D/N Day
Wing/Base: 305 AW/ WRI
Location: Near Namibia Africa
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 59405
Fatalities: 9 crew
Fatigue? No
Memphis Int’l Airport TN/2001
Date 22 Dec 2001
Cause: Mechanical Failure
Condition D/N n/a
Wing/Base: 164 AW/TN ANG
Location: Memphis Int’l Airport TN
IMC/VMC n/a
Tail #:
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? yes
(IN)FAMOUS CLOSE CALLS
Wake Island/1967
Date 1967
Cause: Mechanical Failure
Condition D/N night
Wing/Base: 60 MAW/SUU
Location: Wake Island
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 50230
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? No
Bien Hoa AB RVN/??
Date ????
Cause: Attempted Hijacking
Condition D/N n/a
Wing/Base: 62 MAW/ TCM
Location: Bien Hoa AB RVN
IMC/VMC n/a
Tail #: 60192
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? N/A
Comox RCAFB Canada/1976
Date 1976
Cause: Mechanical Failure
Condition D/N day
Wing/Base: 63 MAW/SBD
Location: Comox RCAFB Canada
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: xxxxxx
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? N/A
Richmond RAAFB Austrailia/1977
Date 15 Oct 1977
Cause: Multiple Engine Failure
Condition D/N Day
Wing/Base: 63 MAW/SBD
Location: Richmond RAAFB Aust.
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 40614
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? N/A
NAS China Lake CA/1979
Date 1979
Cause: Mechanical Failure
Condition D/N Day
Wing/Base: 63 MAW/SBD
Location: NAS China Lake CA
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: ?????
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? N/A
Vance AFB OK/1982
Date 1982
Cause: crew error
Condition D/N Day
Wing/Base: 63 MAW/SBD
Location: Vance AFB OK
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: ?????
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? N/A
Lajes AB Azores/1981
Date 1981
Cause: Mechanical Failure
Condition D/N Day
Wing/Base: 438 MAW/ WRI
Location: Lajes AB Azores
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 60157
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? N/A
Vance AFB OK/1982
Date 1982
Cause: crew error
Condition D/N Day
Wing/Base: 63 MAW/SBD
Location: Vance AFB OK
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: ?????
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? N/A
Amarillo Int’l Airport TX/??
Date ????
Cause: Gear Up Landing
Condition D/N Night
Wing/Base: 443rd MAW/ALTUS
Location: Amarillo Int’l Airport TX
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 50280
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? N/A
Iwakuni AB Japan/1987
Date 12 Jan 1987
Cause: Runway Excursion
Condition D/N Day
Wing/Base: 63rd MAW/SBD
Location: Iwakuni AB Japan
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 70029
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? Yes
Sarajevo Bosnia/1994
Date 21 Jan 1994 Cause: Hostile Fire Condition D/N Day Wing/Base: 62nd MAW/McChord Location: Sarajevo Bosnia IMC/VMC VMC Tail #: unk Fatalities: none Fatigue? no 
VOR, the
copilot noticed a couple of French Air Force Mirage F-1 fighters maneuvering
several hundred yards behind the C-141. At
about that time, on Guard frequency, they heard, "Aircraft over N’
identify yourself. Divert to N’
". The crew acknowledged with a
wing rock. With the Mirages following, they landed at N’
Int’l Airport.
Armed soldiers instantly surrounded the aircraft.
, the capital of
Chad. The French government had come to the aid of
Chad in February 1986, and had established anti-aircraft defenses around the
capital, using US made Hawk missiles.
French Military Intelligence believed the Libyans would again attack,
this time using an Il-76 (similar in size and shape to the C-141), possibly
with chemical weapons and coming from the south.
When the French manned air defenses saw an
unknown aircraft coming from the south, the French Commander ordered the
missiles to fire. While the missiles
were in a several minute long prelaunch sequence, some French F-1’s, who
happened to be in the vicinity, flew by for a final visual confirmation.
It was only when the Mirage pilot noticed the
American flag on the tail of the green camouflaged C-141 that the attack was
called off and communication attempted, approximately 5 seconds from missile
launch.
Goose Bay IAP, Newfoundland/?
Date ??
Cause: Mechanical Failure
Condition D/N night
Wing/Base: 446th MAW/KTCM
Location: Goose Bay IAP, Newfoundland
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 60158
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? no
Sarajevo Bosnia/1994
Date 21 Jul 1994
Cause: Hostile Fire
Condition D/N Day
Wing/Base: 62nd MAW/McChord
Location: Sarajevo Bosnia
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: unk
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? no
Thessoloniki Greece/1995
Date 4 Oct 1995
Cause: Mechanical Failure
Condition D/N night
Wing/Base: 446 MAW/TCM
Location: Thessoloniki Greece
IMC/VMC VMC
Tail #: 63-8087
Fatalities: none
Fatigue? no
C-141 Hull Loss Mishaps
Date
A/C#
Base
Fatalities
A/C Destroyed
Where
Major Cause
Night/Day
VMC/IMC
Fatigue?
7 Sept 1966
65-0281
62nd MAW/KTCM
yes
yes
McChord AFB
Error during fuel tank maintenance
n/a
n/a
n/a
23 Mar 1967
65-9407
62nd MAW/KTCM
5 Crew (1 Load. Survived)
yes
Da Nang AB RVN
Runway incursion
night
imc
no
12 Apr 1967
60127
62 MAW/ TCM
7 crew (1 Pilot &1 Load surv.)
Yes
Cam Rahn Bay AB RVN
Checklist deviation
Night
VMC
No
28 Aug 1973
38077
438 MAW/ WRI
7 crew/17 pax (1 Nav. surv.)
Yes
Torrejon AB Spain
CFIT
Night
VMC
Yes
18 Aug 1974
50274
437 MAW/ CHS
7 crew
Yes
La Paz Bolivia
CFIT
Day
IMC
Yes
21 Mar 1975
40641
62 MAW/ TCM
10 crew/6 pax
Yes
Mt. Constance WA
CFIT
Night
IMC
Yes
28 Aug 1976
70006
438 MAW/ WRI
7 crew/16 pax (4 pax survived)
Yes
Sondrestorm Greenland
Loss of control while landing
Day
VMC
No
28 Aug 1976
70008
438 MAW/ WRI
14 crew/4 pax
Yes
RAF Mildenhall England
Weather
Day
IMC
No
18 Sept 1979
40647
437 MAW/ CHS
None
Yes
Charleston AFB SC
Mechanical failure of landing gear
Night
VMC
No
12 Nov 1980
70030
62 MAW/ TCM
6 crew/ 7 pax
Yes
Cairo West AB
Egypt
Disorientation
Night
VMC
Yes
7 Mar 1982
70017
438 MAW/ WRI
None
Yes
McEntire AAF SC
Mechanical failure of hydraulic accumulator
N/A
N/A
N/A
31 Aug 1982
40652
437 MAW/ CHS
9 crew
Yes
Near Knoxville Tennessee
CFIT
Day IMC
No
12 Jul 1984
40624
315 MAW/ CHS
8 crew/ 1 pax
Yes
Sigonella Italy
Multiple engine failure
Day
VMC
No
15 Oct 1986
50246
439 MAW/ SUU
None
Partially Salvaged
Travis AFB CA
Taxi accident
Night
VMC
No
20 Feb 1989
60150
63 MAW/ SBD
7 crew/ 1 pax
Yes
Hurlburt AB Florida
CFIT
Night
IMC
Yes
1 Dec 1992
60142 & 50255
62 AW/ TCM
13 crew
Yes (2 a/c)
Near Harlem Montana
Mid-air collision
Night
VMC
No
7 Oct 1993
50253
60 AW/ SUU
None
Yes
Travis AFB CA
Maintenance error during fuel tank maintenance
N/A
N/A
N/A
23 Mar 1994
60173
305 AW/ WRI
Crew None/23 Soldiers Killed Yes
Pope AFB NC
Destroyed on ground
N/A
N/A
N/A
13 Sept 1997
59405
305 AW/ WRI
9 crew
Yes
Near Namibia Africa
Mid-air collision
Day
VMC
No
22 Dec 2001
?
164AW/ TN ANG
None
Yes
Memphis IAP TN
Maintenance Error
N/A
N/A
Yes
C-141 (In)Famous Close Calls
Date
A/C#
Base
Fatalities
A/C Destroyed
Where
Major Cause
Night/Day
VMC/IMC
Fatigue?
1967
50230
60 MAW/ SUU
None
Repaired
Wake Island
Mechanical failure of pressure door
Night
VMC
No
11 Aug 1970
60192
62 MAW/ TCM
None
Repaired
Bien Hoa AB RVN
Attempted Hijacking
N/A
N/A
N/A
1976
?
63 MAW/ SBD
None
Repaired
Comox RCAFB Canada
Mechanical failure
Day
VMC
No
15 Oct 1977
40614
63 MAW/ SBD
None
Repaired
Richmond RAAFB Australia.
Multiple engine failure
Day
VMC
No
1979
?
63 MAW/ SBD
None
Repaired
NAS China Lake CA
Mechanical failure of brake system
Day
VMC
No
29 Oct 1979
50249
349 MAW/ SUU
None
Repaired
McMurdo Antarctica
Mechanical failure of landing gear
Day
VMC
No
1981 60157
438 MAW/ WRI None Repaired Lajes AB Azores Mechanical failure of landing gear Day VMC No
1982
?
63 MAW/ SBD
None
Repaired
Vance AFB OK
Crew error
Day
VMC
No
3 Jan 1983
50280
443 MAW/ LTS
None
Repaired
Amarillo Int’l Airport TX
Gear up landing
Night
VMC
No
12 Jan 1987
70029
63 MAW/ SBD
None
Salvaged
Iwakuni AB Japan
Runway excursion
Day
IMC
Yes
10 Sept 1987
40638
63 MAW/ SBD
None
No Damage
N’Djamena, Chad
Hostile interception
Day
VMC
No
18 Aug 1990
60158
446 MAW/ TCM
None
Repaired
Goose Bay Nfld Canada
Mechanical Failure
Night
VMC
No
21 July 94
?
62AW/ TCM
None
Repaired
Sarajevo Bosnia-Herzegovina
Hostile fire
Day
VMC
No
4 Oct 1995
?
446 MAW/ TCM
None
Repaired
Thessoloniki Greece
Hydraulic system fire
Night
VMC
No
C-141 Mishap History
Year CLASS A CLASS B CLASS C (Note 1) HAP Destroyed Number Rate Number Rate Number Rate (Note 2) CY64 0 0 0 0 0 CY65 0 0 0 0 0 CY66 1 0.53 0 0 0 CY67 4 0.87 1 0.22 2 CY68 0 0 4 0.59 0 CY69 0 0 1 0.16 0 CY70 1 0.16 2 0.33 0 CY71 1 0.20 0 0 0 CY72 0 0 2 0.42 0 CY73 2 0.55 0 0 1 CY74 2 0.70 0 0 1 CY75 4 1.27 0 0 1 CY76 3 1.07 2 0.71 2 CY77 2 0.67 5 1.67 0 CY78 1 0.35 4 1.42 0 CY79 3 1.03 4 1.37 90 30.9 103 1 CY80 1 0.36 0 0 109 38.7 123 1 CY81 1 0.35 1 0.34 73 25.1 66 0 CY82 1 0.35 0 0 66 23.2 74 1 CY83 0 0 2 0.68 77 26.1 73 0 CY84 1 0.35 0 0 73 25.5 49 1 CY85 1 0 0 0 70 23.9 45 0 CY86 1 0.35 0 0 39 13.5 38 0 TY87 1 0.45 0 0 21 9.5 59 0 FY88 2 0 0 0 18 6.8 47 0 FY89 1 0.36 0 0 25 9.0 25 1 FY90 0 0 0 0 39 12.8 11 0 FY91 0 0 0 0 42 9.5 14 0 FY92 0 0 0 0 27 11.9 12 0 FY93 1 0.49 0 0 23 11.3 3 2 FY94 0 0 0 0 16 12.5 6 1 FY95 0 0 0 0 19 12.1 5 0 FY96 0 0 0 0 22 15.0 0 FY97 1 0.83 1 0.83 7 5.7 1 FY98 1 0.97 0 0 7 6.8 0 FY99 0 0 1 1.13 . 0 FY00 0 0 5 7.74 . 0 FY01 0 0 3 5.79 . 0 FY02 0 0 1 2.28 . 0
Note 1: Data for Class C Mishaps and High Accident Potential Incidents (HAP) not available prior to 1978 or after 1999.
Note 2: This is the official tabulation. For statistical analysis purposes, the AFI 91-204 counts only those aircraft destroyed in operational mishaps. Not included in this official data are the following mishaps: McChord (1966), McEntire (1982), Travis (1986), Pope (1994) and Memphis (2001).
Mishap Rate Data as of FY02, except "USAF Average" which is as of FY01
SUMMARY
Arnold, Peter J
Babcock, Edward P
Bass, Charlie J
Bialke, Glenn F
Bissett, Monte
Blackley, John H
Brenn, Harry M
Brissette, Leslie C
Brown III, Wilbert
Brown, Marshall E
Bryant, Stacy D
Bucknam,Gary
Bums, Ralph W
Burkhart, Kenneth M
Burroughs, Paul N
Bynum, Alanson G
Campton, James R
Canter, Billy J
Chambers, Mark J
Church, Carl H
Cindrich, Gregory M
Cleven, Richard M
Corbin, Clinton C
Corona, Alessandro
Craig, Scott D
Dasenbrock, John H
Dempsey, Harry R
Dietz, Thomas R
Down, Robert E
Drager, Justin R
Eigenrauch, Robert A
Elster, Mark
Evans, Earl R
Evans, Robert K
Eve, Frank N
Funck, Alfied
Gardner, Darnell
Gaskin, Robert D
Gentry, Ralph R
Gist, Allan W
Gorin, Joseph M
Grapperhus, Stephen A
Grubbs, Ronald D
Haberbush, Glenn K
Hale, Harold L
Harer, David L
Hillsman, Sidney N
Hirschi, Bradford B
Hodge, Michael K
Homer, Leroy - Former McGuire C-141 pilot, was FIRST OFFICER on Flight 93, 9/11/2001
Hoye, Lonnie G
Hoyle 3rd, Edward
Huggins, Wayne R
Jenkins, Jimmy L
Johnson, Dale C
Kerr, Norman T
Kightlinger, James M
Kohler, Karl M
Kuechman, Thomas H
Kuhn, William A
Lake, Dale W
Lamers, Friedrich H
Lee, Stanley Y
Leonard, Leroy R
Lynch, David A
Mahy, Harold E
Martin, William G
McGany, Robert J
McGuire, Kevin
McNally, John R
McNeilly, Elmer A
Meeks, Robert M
Miller, Herman E
Miyoshi, Terrence
Moorefield Jr, CT
Moreland, George
Nicholson, Monty G W
Norman, James L
Osterfeld, Peter
Parent Jr, Edward
Payne, Edwin C
Payne, Gary T
Peer,Garland B
Perez, Carlos M
Quinn, Patrick F
Ramsey, Jason S
Remerscheid, John W
Rivera, Refugio
Roberts, Scott N
Shults, Roy E
Sielewicz, David
Simpson, James E
Solomon, Michael N
Starkel, Max P
Sullivan, Leo D
Sweatman, Jack C
Thornton, Richard B
Vallejo, Peter C
Vanarsdall, Daniel
Vargas, Gaston J
Walker, Franklin L
Welch, Patrick A
Wells, Donald R
Wilkenson, Banks
Williams, Glenn R
Wilson, Alan L
Wilson, Jeffrey T
Witt, Morris B
Wright, Robert E
Young, David
Young, John F
Mishap Classification
Operational History
McChord/1966
Da Nang/1967
Cam Rahn Bay/1967
Torrejon/1973
LaPaz/1974
McChord/1975
Mildenhall & Sondestrom/1976
Charleston/1979
Cairo West/1980
McEntire/1982
Knoxville/1982
Sigonella/1984
Travis/1986
Hurlburt/1987
Harlem/1992
Travis/1993
Pope/1994
Near Namibia Africa/1997
Memphis/2001
Wake Island/1967
Bien Hoa/1970
Richmond/1977
China Lake/1978
McMurdo/1979
Lajes/1981
Vance/1982
Amarillo/1983
Iwakuni/1987
N'Djamena, Chad/1987
Goose Bay/1990
Sarajevo/1994
Thessoloniki/1995