Civilian Cargo Plane Crashes in Mountains East of Kabul

[bemildred]

Source: NYT

KABUL, Afghanistan — A civilian cargo plane trying to land at Kabul’s international airport crashed into the nearby mountains Tuesday night, and Afghan and NATO officials said they feared that there were no survivors among the eight people aboard.

NATO helicopters and members of the Afghan National Security Forces were searching for the wreckage, according to a NATO statement. The cause of the crash was unclear.

The plane was a civilian version of the C-130 transport aircraft used by the military for cargo, the NATO statement said.

Gen. Zahir Azimi, the Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, said the plane went down near Pul-i-Charkhi, east of Kabul. The city lies in the middle of a circle of mountains, and when planes reduce altitude as they are coming in for a landing they run the risk of crashing into the surrounding peaks. The mountainous area east of Kabul was where a Kam Air plane crashed in February 2005, leaving 104 people dead.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/world/asia/13afghan.html

[thunder rising]

1. civilian version of the C-130 transport aircraft? Air America? Just ask'in.

[bemildred]

2. Hmmm. I thought that was a liberal radio network.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_%28radio_network%29

[hayu_lol]

3. Thunder...I immediately thought of Air America as well.

Wasn't aware that there was a civie version of the 130.

[bemildred]

5. Apparently, Hercules L-100, expensive too.

Great, big plane though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_L-100_Hercules

[James48]

4. Lockheed L-382

The C-130, when sold as the civilian version, is called the L-382.

There are about a dozen or so L-382's of U.S. registry in private hands moving cargo in the U.S.

One of the largest U.S. operators of L-382' is Lynden Air Cargo in Alaska. I don't know of they have any contracts into Afghanistan or not.

http://www.lac.lynden.com/shiplac/lac-charter.html

Other L-382 civilian versions are registered in other nations- including a handful registered in African countries.

There was another L-382 that crashed in Afghanistan back in June. More on that one here:
http://www.flyafrica.info/forums/showthread.php?t=28231 It was registered to an African cargo carrier, Transafrik. Photos of that one on that page.

This crash is also being reported as a Transafrik owned airplane. I have no information at all yet on the one being talked about today- as to what they were doing there, other than what that Times article says.