An Alaska Air National Guard C-130 Hercules taxis in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in 1998. The Air Mobility Command has grounded or restricted half of its C-130Es. (Maj. Mike Pitzer / Department of Defense)
The Air Force’s Air Mobility Command has grounded or restricted half of its fleet of C-130E Hercules troop and cargo transport planes because of concerns about the strength of their wings, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper said Thursday during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The grounding affects 30 C-130Es, an older variant manufactured between 1962 and 1974, Jumper said.
An additional 60 are being placed on “restricted flight status,” according to a statement released Friday by AMC headquarters at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. About 190 of the aircraft fly for active-duty Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve units.
The statement said the AMC commander, Gen. John Handy, grounded the aircraft Thursday after a series of inspections during the past four years revealed unusually numerous and severe cracks in the wing box structure of some C-130s.
The wing box is the center section of the aircraft, where the wings meet the fuselage, and is subject to high levels of stress — especially in C-130s — which frequently take off and land with heavy loads on remote, rough runways.
Jumper said the order affected a dozen aircraft flying missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. An Air Force source in Kuwait confirmed that 11 aircraft at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait, have been grounded for inspections.
The only C-130s based in Europe belong to the 86th Airlift Wing, based at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
First Lt. Jennifer Lovett, a spokeswoman for the unit, said none of the wing’s C-130s have been grounded, but several have been placed on “restricted” status. She said AMC has not yet defined that status, but it will require aircraft inspections.
Additional C-130s also are based at Yokota Air Base, Japan, but no information was available about restrictions on that fleet at press time.
A British C-130 crashed Jan. 30 near Balad Air Base, Iraq, about 40 miles northwest of Baghdad, after the wing reportedly sheared off in flight. Ten British soldiers and airmen died. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the crash.
