C130 Tragedy

[ClubMed]

This seems to have happened recently ? A C130 broke apart in the air and crashed while trying to put out forest fires.

Video available here [not for the broadband challenged]:
http://www.sky.com/skynews/videoconn...-31200,00.html

CM.

i saw this when i was at the gym yesterday. couldn't hear what they were saying, do they have any idea how it happened?!

[ClubMed]

They are going to investigate why the plane fell apart in the air, seems to be some tragic material failure.

very very sad

[alondra]

watched it here on TV, looked like both wings, at about the same time, folded up and broke away at the wing root.

[Toadman]

whoa.. In-fight structural failure.
Must've been wing loading after the sudden weight loss/retardant drop.

[caddmannq]

Happened about 40 miles from my house yesterday. Looks like the main spar snapped at the right root, then ripped completely loose.

[TheBurningCat]

It was even on my news in australia....................

[Thud]

Yeah, that's terrible.

I would have to guess that a fuel line busted and ignited. It looked like there was fire at both points on either side of the fuselage where the wings snapped off. The C130 is one tough little plane....they fly them into hurricanes on a regular basis.

[daveleau]

Very sad.

I wonder what they will find when they look at the plane's history. It looks like it just cracked up after dropping its load, right before pulling up.