Pictured: Indonesian C-130 Hercules. On the video, it appears that the C-130 involved in the crash was painted in the military’s standard camo pattern.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Richard Vandervord
What: C-130 Hercules Indonesian military transport en route from Jakarta to East Java
Where: Magetan, East Java. Geplak 325 miles east of Jakarta.
When: Wednesday May 20
Who: 112 passengers and 13 crew. 57 were killed, 5 on the ground. 70 were hospitalized. The exact number of those aboard is unclear. (Some overlap with passengers and crew numbers. The reports range from 99 to 113 passengers and 13 or 14 crew members.)Update:The number of dead has risen to 98. Ten children were on the flight. Two were killed on the ground. 15 are injured.
Why: The plane was about to land at Iswahyudi military airbase. Witnesses claim the plane split apart in the air, (one of the wings fell off when the plane was still in the air) and exploded.

The plane destroyed four houses in Geplak and skidded into the rice paddy.

George’s Point of View

A colleague said that the fact that this is a 30 year old plane loaded with soldiers speaks for itself.

I think it’s terrible that old planes are allowed up in the air, taking lives.

The manufacturers build a deadly weapon like a plane and the craft is sold and resold. It seems to me that the manufacturer should maintain control of deciding the airworthiness of their planes from birth to retirement, no matter who owns the plane.

Maybe one day manufacturer’s sale agreements will be written including a clause that the decision of a plane’s airworthiness is part of the ownership certificate for the life of the plane. Then Lockheed would be diligent about keeping maintenance crews diligent.

Am I dreaming?

I anxiously await the preliminary report from the NTSB, and to hear what happened from Lockheed what caused the explosion.