Crash
The "Green Ramp" is the large north-south parking ramp at the west end of Pope AFB's east-west runway, used by the U.S. Army and Air Force to stage joint operations. Several buildings sit along its western edge, including Building 900, the building housing the Air Force operations group. A pax shed (a large open-bay building) sat next to Building 900, which the Army used to prepare troops for parachute drops. A large grassy area, where troops could stage before drops, lay between the two buildings. Behind the area, several concrete mock-ups of the backs of Air Force cargo aircraft had been constructed, where troops could rehearse their drop procedures.
On the day of the accident, about 500 paratroopers from Fort Bragg were in the pax shed, the concrete mock-ups or resting in the grassy area. While the jumpers prepared to board several C-130s and C-141 aircraft parked on Green Ramp, the sky was filled with Air Force F-16, A-10 and C-130 aircraft conducting Air Force training.
Read more about this topic: Green Ramp Disaster
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