Hercules crew, passengers survive enemy fire

  • Published
  • By Capt. Aaron Burgstein
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  It was a bright, clear day when an Air Force C-130 Hercules with 57 Soldiers aboard took off from an airfield in northern Iraq bound for a forward-deployed location. The flight seemed to be routine until the pilot thought he heard a “thud.” Then, according to the aircrew, the flight became anything but routine.

“I suddenly had a fire-warning light staring me in the face,” said Maj. Rolf Breen, the aircraft commander. He is assigned to the 386th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron.

The aircraft had been hit by ground fire and was in trouble. The No. 1 engine was a “fireball,” said Master Sgt. James Grigsby, the aircraft’s loadmaster.

They needed to put the aircraft down quickly and safely, Major Breen said. This involved finding somewhere for the aircraft to land and letting someone know what had happened.

Capt. Jason Schroeder, the co-pilot, said he notified command officials of the situation and warned other aircraft in the area. Then, “we had to figure out where to go,” he said.

“Our mindset was to get away from the threat,” said Major Breen.

The navigator, Lt. Col. John Loranger, quickly found an alternate airfield for the aircraft to land. It was not a regular airfield, but rather an emergency divert field with minimal facilities.

“We didn’t have any (navigation) info on the field … but luckily, we’d been there just a few days prior so we knew it could safely handle us,” he said.

However, landing safely was not the only problem; the aircraft was still on fire.

“The fire didn’t go out for (most of) the flight,” said Sergeant Dan Hayes, the flight engineer.

Once they completed the initial emergency procedures, they continued battling the blaze, he said.

“Because the fire was still going, we continued to keep an eye out for places to set the aircraft down if needed,” said Colonel Loranger, who said it seemed like an eternity before they reached the airfield. “It only took us about 10 minutes from start to finish, but it seemed like 45.”

The fire burned for about seven of those 10 minutes. About eight miles from their divert field, the fire finally went out.

The crew said that when they got to the divert field they were concerned with the runway because about half of it had been damaged during the war, and now there were people on it.

“I’ll never forget the sight of the people working on one end of the runway waving at us as we passed overhead,” the major said.

Once the aircraft was on the ground, the loadmasters evacuated the passengers.

“When we landed, it was like a weight coming off my shoulders,” said Tech. Sgt. Robert Sczesny. “I was thankful we were on the ground, but now we had to get the passengers off the plane quickly and safely. The briefing and unloading the 57 Soldiers took about a minute.”

They spent about four hours on the ground before another aircraft was able to pick them up.

The crew flew their next mission to the same airfield four days later.