A Turkish military C-130 cargo plane crashed in Georgia on the 11th of November while en route from Azerbaijan to Turkey for reasons still unknown, Reuters reports.
The crash killed 20 Turkish soldiers, the country’s deadliest military incident since 2020, when 33 soldiers were killed in clashes with Russian-backed forces in Syria. Ankara has not reported the cause of the crash, and Turkish and Georgian authorities began work at the scene early on the 12th of November. An unconfirmed video on social media shows the plane breaking up in mid-air before crashing to the ground.
Turkey said it was working closely with Azerbaijan and Georgia in the investigation. Lockheed Martin, the US military manufacturer of the C-130, has also said it will help with the investigation. The C-130, a four-engine military transport aircraft that can take off and land without a dedicated airfield, is widely used by air forces around the world. It is suitable for transporting cargo, equipment and troops, and can also be used for air strikes and reconnaissance.
Some analysts have said that despite the aircraft’s convenience, Turkey’s C-130 fleet is outdated
and in need of replacement. Jarrod Phillips, a former US Air Force C-130 specialist, said that the video shows the tail section of the aircraft separating and fuel leaking, which could indicate that the crew dumped fuel to make an emergency landing.
The plane was 57 years old, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, and had been in service with the Turkish Air Force since 2010. In October, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced a deal with Britain to buy 12 C-130J aircraft. The planes will be serviced and upgraded in Britain before being shipped to Turkey.
In 2017, a KC-130T crashed in Mississippi, US, killing all 16 people on board. Witnesses at the time said the plane caught fire in mid-air. An investigation found that the crash was caused by poor maintenance and a rusted propeller blade.
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