KC-135 down

[James48843]

Associated Press/Vladimir Voronin - A Kyrgyz policeman investigates a U.S. Air Force KC-135 tanker aircraft wreckage as a local citizen speaks to The Associated Press photographer on a field near the village of Chaldovar, about 100 miles (160 kms) west of the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, Friday, May 3, 2013. The emergencies ministry in Kyrgyzstan says a US military plane has crashed in the country. Kyrgyzstan hosts a US base that is used for troops transiting into and out of Afghanistan and for C-135 tanker planes that refuel warplanes in flight. (AP Photo/Vladimir Voronin)

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — Search teams on Saturday found the bodies of two American crew members near where their military refueling plane crashed in the rugged mountains of Kyrgyzstan, while the third crew member was still missing, the emergencies minister of the Central Asian nation said.


The KC-135 plane crashed Friday afternoon about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of the air base that the U.S. operates in Kyrgyzstan to support military operations in Afghanistan.


Officials at the U.S. Transit Center at the Manas base have released no information yet on the cause of the crash and could not immediately be reached on Saturday for any further information.


Emergencies Minister Kubatbek Boronov told The Associated Press that Kyrgyz search teams found the two fragmented bodies Saturday morning and they have not yet been identified. He said the Kyrgyz rescuers were working with U.S. military personnel from Manas to search for the third crewman and the flight recorders.

more:
Bodies of 2 US crew found at Kyrgyzstan crash site

 

[Handballer]

Here is another quote from the Stars & Stripes: This was the third crash involving U.S. planes supporting operations in Afghanistan in less than a week.Seven people were killed when a civilian cargo plane crashed Monday at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul. Two days earlier, four airmen were killed in the crash of an MC-12 aircraft near Kandahar Air Field in southern Afghanistan.

 

[James48843]

Question to any AF'ers who might know-

20 years ago I used to hop KC-135's SPACE A around places. At the time, none of the crew wore parachutes. Not in KC-135's, not in C-130's, not in C-5A's, not in the C-9 Nightgales I rode in.

I am curious- now that these KC-135's are supporting combat missions in Theater, do the crew wear parachutes?

Just curious.

 

[Handballer]

US military plane crashes in Kyrgyzstan - Europe - Stripes “Emergency response crews are on scene,” Staff Sgt. Aaron Thomasson, a spokesman at the air base, Transit Center Manas, north of the capital Bishkek, said. The status of the three crew members is unknown, a release from the air base said.

 

[Sensei]

Wow, I was just talking to one of my students today - he was excited because his mom is going to come home from deployment to Kyrgyzstan this weekend. I really hope she wasn't on this plane. It seems unlikely that she'd be on a refueling plane, but I guess anything's possible the way they fly space-A. I'll be wishing the best for my student, and all the crew and their family members.

 

[James48843]

The KC-135 is down- crashed and burning.

US Refueling Plane Crashes in Kyrgyzstan | World | RIA Novosti

 

[James48843]

A KC-135 is missing near the border of Kazahkstan and Kyrgyzstan.

U.S. military plane crashes near Kyrgyz-Kazakh border | Reuters



Pray for the crew