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A Special Forces RAF Hercules carrying the new British ambassador in Afghanistan crashed yesterday while landing at a “primitive, wild west” airstrip, defence sources said.
The number one engine of the Hercules C130K caught fire as it came in to land. The pilot touched down safely and ordered the 28 civilians and nine RAF crew on board to evacuate the aircraft.
The cause of the fire was being investigated but early indications were that it was not due to shots from the ground.
Yesterday’s crash was a reminder to Stephen Evans, after only being in the post for only a month, of the dangers faced by troops in Helmand.
The ambassador, who was the High Commissioner in Sri Lanka during the Boxing Day Tsunami, was visiting some of the 3,000 British personnel in Helmand province to receive an update on reconstruction efforts.
On the same dirt landing strip outside the town of Lashkar Gar last month a Russian-built Antonov AN32 transport plane killed four Afghans while trying to avoid a truck that had strayed onto the strip.
Quick reactions by the Hercules crew, from No 47 Squadron, based at RAF Lyneham, which specialises in putting SAS troopers into dangerous terrain, meant the aircraft was rapidly evacuated as it came to a halt while ablaze.
The Ministry of Defence said that although there were fire tenders on hand from the nearby small British base in Lashkar Gah they could not prevent the blaze destroying the plane – one of only four RAF Hercules in Afghanistan. While enemy ground fire has been ruled out by the MoD a full investigation will be carried out.
The RAF is now facing a major transport problem after losing four Hercules in the past decade – including two highly specialised aircraft used to deliver SAS troops in the past 18 months. There have been complaints from pilots that a new defensive system to suppress fires has not been installed quickly enough for the dangerous operations in Afghanistan.
It was only after 10 British servicemen were killed when insurgents shot down a similar Hercules C130K in January 2005 that the Ministry of Defence agreed to install Explosive Suppressant Foam to the wings. The system, fitted to all American and Australian C130s, could have saved the aircraft.
The Commons defence committee has criticised the lack of safety equipment and now all Hercules on operations will be fitted with ESF at a cost of £700,000 each.
Internal RAF documents suggest that pilots requested ESF devices as early as 2002, but they will not be fitted until next month. This has caused anxiety among aircrew flying over Taliban or al-Qa’eda areas, which have become increasingly hostile.
The crash is likely to put further strain on the RAF Hercules transport fleet, operating at maximum capacity for the Government’s overseas expeditions.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/25/wafg25.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/05/25/ixnews.html
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