What we know about Turkish Air Force flight TUAF543
A Turkish Air Force Lockheed C-130E Hercules, a military transport class aircraft, has crashed in Georgia, close to the border of neighboring Azerbaijan. The crash has been confirmed by both Turkish and Georgian authorities.
The transport aircraft, using call-sign TUAF543, departed Ganja International Airport (GNJ) in Azerbaijan at 10:19 UTC. After departure, it turned left and eventually positioned itself on a northeasterly track, passing the Mingechevir Reservoir beneath. While passing 15,000 feet, it again turned, this time onto a northwesterly heading before finally setting course west, passing the Georgian border at 10:37 UTC. The aircraft was in a continuous ascent until reaching its cruising altitude of 24,000 feet at 10:41 UTC.
The last ADS-B signal received by Flightradar24 occured at 10:49:20 UTC. Data suggests a rapid descent during the last documented seconds of flight, with recorded vertical speed indications exceeding 19,000 ft per minute.
The video below purportedly shows the aircraft spiraling down from the sky, amidst white smoke emanating from the wing tips. It appears as if both the front section, housing the flight deck, as well as the entire tail end of the aircraft (commonly referred to as the empennage) had been severed.
Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense has communicated that 20 military personnel were on board, as reported by The Associated Press. Turkey’s Defence Minister Yaşar Güle has confirmed that all 20 onboard were killed in the crash.
Flightradar24 playback of the recorded flight path of TUAF543 can be found here.
Aircraft information
Turkish Air Force flight TUAF543 was operated by a Lockheed C-130E Hercules registered as 68-1609. It was 57 years old, delivered from the Lockheed Marietta factory in 1968 and initially served the Royal Saudi Air Force. Records show it entering service with the Turkish Air Force in March 2010.
The aircraft had been flying regularly recently. The last recorded flight was between Kayseri (ASR) to Ganja (GNJ), arriving at 08:04 UTC earlier at the day of the crash.
Investigative updates of flight TUAF543
The so-called “black box” of the C-130 Hercules aircraft involved in the crash has been retrieved and will be investigated. This according to a public announcement made by Turkish President Recep Erdoğan on November 12th.
24 Responses
Nothing on how many injuries or how many people have passed
All passengers and crew dead
It says right there in the article that all 20 were killed:
“Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense has communicated that 20 military personnel were on board, as reported by The Associated Press. Turkey’s Defence Minister Yaşar Güle has confirmed that all 20 onboard were killed in the crash.”
Don’t you know how to read says all 20 on board died no one survived 😢
The 20 persons on board all died.
Did you notice the plane’s cockpit missing from the amateur video? The tail of the plane is also detached and falls independently. Is it truly a technical issue, or did it crash due to external factors? Everyone is waiting for the accident report. RIP for the brave 20 Air Force soldiers.
Looks as if the central wing structure “box” has completely detached thus taking the whole structure with it and, obviously the wings. What we don’t see the the remainder of the fuselage
This has happened before where the wing box looks to have separated from the fuselage of the C130. There is another video of a fire fighting C130 crashing in California USA as they were approaching the fire. Even tried and true aircraft like the C130 get old.
must’ve been a missile or onboard bomb that brought it down, from the video(s) …
@dan, not necessarily a missile or bomb. Compare this to the 2017 crash of US Marine Corp (USMC) C-130 in Mississippi. In both crashes, the fuselage forward of the wings completely separated. The Turkish C-130 video seems to show the propeller is missing from one of the inboard engines. The USMC in-flight break-up was caused by a failure of one of the in-board propellers. A blade came loose, struck the fuselage, and caused a cascade of failures which led to the break-up.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.militarytimes.com/assets/public-release-command-investigation-report-yanky-72-redacted.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_States_Marine_Corps_KC-130_crash
Not likely with the aircraft breaking into 3 distinct yet intact pieces. I suspect that the #3 engine suffered a critical break up and the prop spun across the fuselage detaching the cockpit section from the body. The resulting torque and stress caused the tail (empennage) to then detach.
The “smoke” coming off the wings is most likely fuel venting from the wing tanks. The dump valves are located on the wingtips.
Da da, it was because of Putin.
An other way more reasonable cause maybe a structural issue, on a plane aged 57.
Could be a prop blade like the USMC aircraft in 2017 over Mississippi
My condolences to the families of the deceased.
Turbulence from nearby mountain ranges leading to the breakup?
The mist streaming from the wing tips is fuel from the dump masts, not smoke.
The forward fuselage is intact approximately from flight station 517, including the cockpit.
The empenage is not part of the video. The image of it, has it broken away at flight station 737 where the fuselage attaches with the empenage. Probable structural failure where the lower butt line 61 longerons meet the empenage sloping longerons at the tension tie fittings.
Arm chair investigator
WHAT A SHAME. 20 PEOPLE DEAD. GOD HELP THEIR FAMILIES & THEM.
On other available footage, if you are able to either slow mo the footage, or stop it at the right place, it appears you are able to see completely through the fusilage. No chance for anyone on board.
The two severed places are quite far from each other. What could have simultaneously chopped it so cleanly in those two places?
Esperemos el informe de la “caja negra” puede dar más pistas de por que cae el C-130.
The fuel dump valves are open on the wingtips which is unusual, but with the cockpit detached who knows what wiring could have shorted.
should an aircraft 57 years old be still flying .regardless of the state of militance.
New Zealand only recently got rid of its old C130s. Good maintenance kept them flying.
This aircraft type seems to have a history of props or prop blades coming off and chopping through the fuselage… If you look carefully there is a red line painted right round the fuselage indicating the danger area to keep clear of because of detaching prop blades and props…!