C-130 down in Savannah

Killed in the crash were:

Maj. José R. Román Rosado, the plane’s pilot. He was from Manati, Puerto Rico, had 18 years of service, and is survived by his wife and two sons.
Maj. Carlos Pérez Serra, the plane’s navigator. He was from Canóvanas, Puerto Rico, had 23 years of service, and is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
1st Lt. David Albandoz, the plane’s co-pilot. He was from Puerto Rico and recently resided in Madison, Alabama, had 16 years of service, and is survived by his wife and daughter.
Senior Master Sgt. Jan Paravisini, a mechanic. He was from Canóvanas, Puerto Rico, had 21 years of service, and is survived by his two daughters and a son.
Master Sgt. Jean Audriffred. He was from Carolina, Puerto Rico, had 16 years of service, and is survived by his wife and two sons.
Master Sgt. Mario Braña, a flight engineer. He was from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, had 17 years of service, and is survived by his mother and daughter.
Master Sgt. Víctor Colón. He was from Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico, had 22 years of service, and is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Master Sgt. Eric Circuns, a loadmaster. He was from Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, had 31 years of service, and is survived by his wife, two stepdaughters, and a son.
Senior Airman Roberto Espada. He was from Salinas, Puerto Rico, with three years of service, and is survived by his grandmother.

www.airforcetimes.com...

a reply to: lspilot6946

Considering that they have something like 7 aircraft, and two are grounded due to lack of parts, it had a one in five shot at being there.

a reply to: buddah6

A C-130 blew a hole in a field in Georgia in 1989. It pretty much did the same thing as this one. The cause was a center wing spar failure taking out the engines and forcing the ailerons to the extremes. It was in straight and level flight at the time. Fortunately it had more altitude and the crew was able to bail out.

a reply to: JIMC5499

Lots of conflicting information. It seems that engines and hydraulics are the leading theories, but nothing officially has been said.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: incoserv

The average age of the entire Air Force inventory is something like 26-28. We have aircraft flying that are in their 60s, and have been asking them to fly every day, in an insane operations tempo, that has resulted in maintenance being deferred, aircraft pushed beyond their designed life cycle, etc. And now we're seeing the results of that.

Unfortunately deferred maintenance is a whole lot more expensive than preventive maintenance and the people holding the purse strings are too short sighted to know, or care.

a reply to: Zaphod58

If you lose your engines the props automatically feather and there goes your hydraulics.

originally posted by: Barnalby

originally posted by: Irishhafit almost looked like they just ran out of sky. (if that makes sense) Some more altitude and they may have saved it, or at least made it survivable for some.

That's exactly how unintentional stalls/spins work. At altitude, you may lose years off your life and need a new pair of pants, but you'll still have a decent chance of recovering the aircraft into a more controllable/survivable flight mode, but if it happens close to the ground, you'll be dead before the full reality of what just happened even starts to set in.

My old flight instructor (Jay Miller, not the author) used to be a test pilot for Douglas. He was one of the test pilots for the DC10 and the took it to 36k feet to do stall tests. It spun and they recovered just under 10k feet. You need a LOT of altitude to recover in a large airframe.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: buddah6

It could have been, but I'm still thinking flight control issue. Either elevator boost pack or rudder jam in full left.

There was no sudden pitch change so I doubt it is an elevator issue. Could have been multiple issues but it does look like the left wing stalled either from full left rudder or both engines on that side died near v/mc, or all of the above

Side note, this is what would happen to a B52 should they have decided to go to the 4 engine conversion and one engine died. 50% thrust loss on one side instead of 25% thrust loss with minimal rudder authority would result in a similar departure as seen here.

a reply to: Flipper35

It wouldn't have to be sudden. If the elevator jammed after they went nose up, and they tried to level, the aircraft would keep wanting to climb.

Someone brought up an engine control issue from several years ago where several aircraft suffered uncommanded power rollbacks.

Several people have said that it appears that something separates from the aircraft before they lost control.

a reply to: Zaphod58

It seems this plane was on its final flight to a boneyard for retirement from service when the crash happened I hope they did not just fix it up hoping to it would be just enough to get it to scrapers if that's the. Case they have cut it up locally instead of putting people at risk by flying a junker over us. Reports say plan was built in 1965 and was on way to scrapyard.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Flipper35

It wouldn't have to be sudden. If the elevator jammed after they went nose up, and they tried to level, the aircraft would keep wanting to climb.

Sorry, I took it to mean a runaway actuator running full up. My bad.

a reply to: JIMC5499

I live in middle TN and one of the guys I coach high school lacrosse with here is a flight instructor / former Marine pilot and he leans toward this same theory...

I ended up seeing the video the other day when it auto-played on an article he sent me - and all I could think was Godspeed... Don't know if it is wishful thinking / knowledge of the professionalism of military pilots, but to me it seemed they were doing everything they could based on the last moments of maneuvering but I just don't think they had enough time or cooperating systems to keep it going...

a reply to: SonOfThor

People on the ground said it appears that they were able to steer away from areas where there might have been people, but beyond that they couldn't do much.

The governor of Puerto Rico has grounded their remaining C-130s and ordered the Adjutant General to perform an in depth audit into the condition of the remaining aircraft. The governor said they would remain grounded until they determined the cause of the crash.

Holy hell. I just saw the video... I cant make any call about what happened as the video starts right as the stall roll started. Pictures show rudder and elevator still attached to tail in wreckage but doesnt rule out problems with them.

Going to bone yard it should be empty so a cargo slip wouldnt be a cause.

Ya this is a bad one.

a reply to: Pyle

Just about everything I'm hearing online is something related to engine issues.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Pyle

Just about everything I'm hearing online is something related to engine issues.

Not much I can think would cause a something like is...Well, maybe uncommanded prop pitch to reverse on E1 and/or E2? I think that has been a problem before with C-130s. Broken throttle cables maybe?

a reply to: Pyle

Uncommanded rollback on multiple engines, or uncommanded reverse on a prop. Both have happened multiple times over the years.