C-130 Accident

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C-130 Accident

A lack of communication over in Iraq...

Here's what happens when you don't properly "NOTAM" (notice to airmen) an airfield under construction.

In mid-December, 2004, a C-23 Sherpa flew into a U.S. operated airfield in Iraq during the day, and saw that there was construction equipment on the runway -- yet there was no NOTAM. A trench was being dug in the runway, and it was not marked. It's a long runway, so they just landed beyond the construction. They filed a safety hazard report that was immediately forwarded to higher headquarters and sent to the Air Force wing based in Iraq.

Well, it seems the construction continued and STILL was not marked or NOTAM'ed or anything. A C-130 landed on the runway the night of December 29th -- and didn't see the construction. On roll-out it wound up going through what was now a large pit on the runway. The C-130 was totaled.

There were several injuries to the crew and the few passengers that were on board but luckily nobody was killed. Quite the set of failures somewhere in the system regarding this improper construction and no
notifications about it.

New Info Added 2/25/05, provided by an "informed source":

1) These pictures never should have been released. Those were property of the US Air Force and evidence in an investigation (I'm all for freedom of the press, but those should have been controlled images). It is likely that these pictures were discovered on a poorly secured shared drive at this installation where this happened and they were passed on to friends, family,...and later the press.

2) The aircraft in question is not merely a C-130. It is an MC-130 Talon II. It is a special operations aircraft designed for infiltration/exfiltration of
special operations personnel/equipment on unprepared runways (i.e. dirt strips, roads, dirt roads, etc. These aircraft are stationed at Hurlburt Field, FL. They routinely fly at 300 ft off the ground in blacked out conditions for up to 8 hrs.