[kellyhound]

A Turkish C-130 military cargo plane with at least 20 personnel on board crashed in Georgia on Tuesday after taking off from Azerbaijan but the number of casualties and the cause of the incident were not immediately clear.

Initial video from the scene near the Azerbaijan border showed chunks of twisted metal strewn across a grassy knoll, with parts of the fuselage still ablaze and dark smoke rising into a clear sky. Fire engines stood nearby and a helicopter whirred overhead.

Footage circulating on social media appeared to show the plane corkscrewing towards the earth and then bursting into flames. Reuters could not immediately verify that footage.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan interrupted a speech in Ankara to offer condolences for "our martyrs" - a term he regularly uses to describe not only combat deaths but also service personnel killed in the course of their general duties.

Erdogan, his office and the ministry did not say what caused the crash, and they did not provide a death toll. Local media said there were both Turkish and Azeri personnel on board the U.S.-made aircraft but gave no numbers.

After a call with Erdogan, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said, according to an official readout, that he had discussed "the tragic news of the loss of servicemen" in the crash.

Turkey's Defence Ministry said 20 Turkish personnel were on board, including the flight crew, but provided no additional details on possible passengers of other nationalities.

Turkey and Georgia said they were working to reach the site in the Sighnaghi municipality of Kakheti, a border region of floodplain forests and rolling hills.
In the Turkish capital Ankara, Erdogan was handed a note by his aides as he was finishing a speech.

"God willing, we will overcome this crash with minimum hardships. May God rest the soul of our martyrs, and let us be with them through our prayers," he said.

Georgia's Interpress news agency cited the country's Interior Ministry as saying the incident was being investigated under a criminal code article covering air transport and the loss of life.

Azerbaijan, a close ally of NATO member Turkey, said the plane had taken off from the city of Ganja.

U.S. firm Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab, which makes the C-130 Hercules that is widely used by air forces around the world, expressed its condolences to those affected by the crash and to Turkey's Air Force and citizens.

"We are committed to supporting our customer in any way as they investigate," said company spokesperson Chris Karns.

The C-130 Hercules is a cargo, troop and equipment carrier aircraft. It is described as a four-engine, turboprop military transport aircraft that can make use of unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings.

Its versatile airframe has enabled it to be used for other purposes as well, including as a gunship and for airborne assault and reconnaissance operations. It is now viewed as one of the main tactical airlifters for many militaries.

[Hunted]

Accident Aircraft: Lockheed C-130EM (68-1609)

[akham]

Wow, you don't see an in-flight breakup of a C-130 every day. That's serious.

ADS-B OUT stopped immediately at breakup.

The Turkish C-130EM is a modernised (M) C-130E. The modifications were carried out about 10 years ago to upgrade avionics so that the aircraft would be suitable for operation into the 2040s.

https://www.defenceturkey.com/en/con...the-2040s-5327

That programme was avionics-only, but the regular D-check was carried out at the same time since the aircraft were already in heavy maintenance for the upgrade.

It is unclear (to me at least) if the regular cycle of D-checks was sufficient to allow the airframe to operate safely until the aircraft were about 70 years old.

[Mr.NoCredit]

Wow that’s pretty dramatic footage.

[durt]

This was an older one, fighting fires.

[yah]

There was pretty much nothing left but the wings & a small part of the fuselage as it was going down.

I flew out of a special forces base in Afghanistan on the border with Pakistan (FOB Salerno) in a C-130. There was a SF team that came aboard after I was already on the plane. They had a big metal equipment container that they were bringing with them. The Air Force loadmaster told the SF commander that it didn't comply with something weight-related & she wasn't going to allow it on board. They stepped back outside the plane & had a big argument & it was obvious that the SF guy won because they then loaded it up. I was a bit paranoid about the plane being unbalanced because I didn't have a clue about what the issue was.

That base got seriously attacked by the Taliban several months after I left & they blew up the DFAC (dining facility) that I used every day with a truck bomb (there's video floating around of the truck explosion). The attackers were dressed as Afghan National Army which gave me flashbacks of having to sleep in a hut with ANA troops & we were always worried about blue on green attacks. Needless to say, I slept with one eye open.

https://www.reddit.com/r/army/commen...erno/?sort=old

[yah]

Here's a video about the attack. The truck explosion is near the end:

[akham]

This, from the man who knows. "Oh, yeah. I know what that is. We've seen it before". (Such knowledge & experience!)

[am1984]

the only nato country with jihadi mindset