Turkish Air Force C-130 Breaks Apart Mid-Flight Over Caucasus
A Lockheed Martin C-130 tactical transport plane from the Turkish Air Force suffered a catastrophic structural failure while flying over the Republic of Georgia.
Incident Details
Video shared on social media shows a portion of the aircraft’s fuselage and wing spiraling downward before crashing. The four turboprop engines remain attached to the wing structure during the descent.
“One of our C-130 military cargo aircraft, which was taking off from Azerbaijan to come to our country, has crashed at the Georgia-Azerbaijan border,”
the Turkish defence ministry stated on social media site X.
Response and Rescue Efforts
- The Turkish Defence Ministry confirmed the crash occurred on November 11.
- Search and rescue operations are ongoing in collaboration with Georgian and Azerbaijani authorities.
- According to Radio Free Europe, 20 people were onboard the aircraft, citing Turkish officials.
Aircraft Information
- Turkey operates 18 legacy-model C-130B/E transports.
- These aircraft are over fifty years old and have been modernized to the C-130EM standard.
- Modernization includes updated cockpit avionics and digital communications systems.
“Turkey’s fleet of legacy C-130B/Es are all more than five decades old,”aviation analytics firm Cirium noted.
Source of images and information is the Turkish Defence Agency.
Author’s Summary
The Turkish Air Force's aging C-130 transport crashed mid-flight over the Caucasus, leading to ongoing rescue efforts and highlighting challenges of operating legacy aircraft.