Lockheed C-141 Starlifter - Accidents

Accidents

Up until 2004, 19 C-141s were destroyed in accidents.

• On 23 March 1967, the worst ground aviation accident of the Vietnam War occurred at Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam when a traffic controller cleared USMC A-6A Intruder, BuNo 152608, of VMA(AW)-242, MAG-11, for takeoff but also cleared USAF C-141A-LM Starlifter, AF serial number 65-9407, of the 62nd Military Airlift Wing, McChord AFB, Washington, to cross the runway. The A-6's crew saw the Starlifter at the last moment, veered off of the runway to try to avoid the collision, but the A-6's port wing sliced through the C-141's nose, which immediately caught fire. The load of 72 acetylene gas cylinders ignited and caused a tremendous explosion, only the loadmaster escaping through the rear hatch. The A-6 overturned, skidded down the runway on its back, but both crew, Capt. Frederick Cone and Capt. Doug Wilson survived, crawling out of the smashed canopy after the jet stopped. Some of the ordnance load of bombs and rocket packs went off in the ensuing fire. Military Airlift Command crew killed were Capt. Harold Leland Hale, Capt. Leroy Edward Leonard, Capt. Max Paul Starkel, SSgt. Alanson Garland Bynum, and SSgt. Alfred Funck. This was the first of two C-141s lost during the conflict, and one of only three strategic airlifters written off during the Vietnam War.
• On 12 April 1967, C-141A, AF Ser. No. 66-0127 crashed after taking off from Cam Rahn Bay AB, Vietnam. An improperly set switch caused the spoilers to activate during take off caused it to stall and crash; 7 crew were killed.
• On 28 August 1973, C-141A, 63-8077 crashed in mountains near Torrejon AB, Spain. A misunderstood descent clearance caused an aircraft to fly below its minimum safe altitude and impact the ground; 24 passengers and crew were killed.
• On 18 August 1974, C-141A, 65-0274, of the 437th MAW, Charleston AFB, South Carolina, hit Mount Potosi at the 19,000 foot level, ~17 miles from destination, John F. Kennedy International Airport, La Paz, Bolivia, killing seven crew.
• On 21 March 1975, an air traffic controller confused aircraft call signs and cleared a McChord AFB based C-141A-20-LM, 64-0641, of the 62d Military Airlift Wing, to descend below safe minimums and it impacted Mount Constance in the Olympic National Forest, Washington, killing 16 passengers and crew.
• On 28 August 1976 a C-141 stalled and crashed after an aborted landing at Sondestrom AB, Greenland killing 23 of the 27 crew and passengers; that same day a McGuire based C-141 broke up in a severe thunderstorm while on descent into Mildenhall AB, UK killing 18 passengers and crew.
• On 12 November 1980, C-141, 67-0030 crashed while landing at Cairo, Egypt. It hit short of the runway while attempting to land at night in the desert with no ground lights as a visual reference, all 13 aboard were killed.
• On 12 July 1984, a C-141B experienced an uncontained failure of its number 3 engine immediately after takeoff from NAS Sigonella, on the Italian island of Sicily. Debris was ejected and caused number 4 engine to also fail. Debris also entered the cargo compartment and started a fire in a pallet containing paint. The cargo fire produced thick poisonous smoke which made visual control of aircraft extremely difficult. The aircraft entered a steep bank and crashed within 198 seconds of takeoff. All 8 crew men and a passenger on board 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.
• On 20 February 1989, C-141B, AF Ser. No. 66-0150, crashed while attempting to land at Hurlburt Field, Florida. The aircraft was executing a non-precision approach to the air base's Runway 18 during heavy thunderstorm activity with low visibility. The aircraft descended below minimum descent altitude and crashed in a wooded area north of Hurlburt Field. All 7 crew members and 1 passenger were killed.
• On 1 December 1992 two McChord-based C-141Bs flying a nighttime air refueling mission collided over Montana and crashed. All 13 crew members died.
• On 13 September 1997, a Luftwaffe Tu-154M (ex-East German Air Force) collided with a USAF C-141 at cruise altitude off the African coast near Namibia. All 24 crew on the Tu-154 plus the 9 crew on the C-141 were killed.