An air tanker that crashed in Kyrgyzstan was rolling to the left and right so violently that the tail section tore free, causing the aircraft to plunge toward the ground and explode in mid-air, an Air Force report said Thursday. The accident last May 3 killed a three-member crew from Fairchild Air Force Base. The Air Force report concluded that a series of factors combined to doom the 50-year-old KC-135 aircraft. The most serious was a so-called Dutch roll in which the plane started yawing to the left and the right and pitching up and down early in the flight. The stresses on the plane became so great that the tail section broke off, the report states. Killed in the crash were Capt. Mark T. Voss, 27, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Capt. Victoria A. Pinckney, 27, of Palmdale, Calif.; and Tech Sgt. Herman Mackey III, 30, of Bakersfield, Calif. All three were stationed at Fairchild, near Spokane.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 19:48:21 +0000
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