Military plane in air collision
The RAF Hercules C1-130 plane was hit by an unidentified foreign plane
A British military transport plane has been involved in a mid-air collision in central Asia.
The Hercules C-130 from RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire landed safely after being hit over Turkmenistan by what reports suggest was a Mig Fighter.
The crew managed to shut down one of the plane’s engines and no one was hurt, the MoD has confirmed.
The transporter, which was on a routine flight from Kabul to Bucharest, landed at Azerbaijani capital Baku.
The collision, which happened on Saturday, caused the top six inches of two of the Hercules’ propeller blades to snap off on one of its two starboard engines.
The crew claim they just saw “a blur” and felt a massive shuddering.
All those on board, which included a “small number” of military passengers and three crew, have since been flown back to the UK.
Serious incident
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, RAF Lyneham, base commander Group Captain Paul Oborn said: “It was a serious incident, but fortunately, everybody landed safely and is now back safe and sound.
“I don’t think they realised until the next day quite how close they came. To lose six inches off a five-foot-long propeller is pretty serious.”
The British Embassy and an RAF board of inquiry are working with Turkemenistan authorities to establish how the collision happened.
Around 50 Hercules are based at RAF Lyneham and despite playing key roles in both wars in Iraq, the government is due to close it down by 2012.
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May 26, 2004 at 6:20 pm