1996 — Aug 17, USAF C-130 Crash, Presidential support mission, ~Jackson Hole, WY– 9
–9 ASN. Accident descrip. USAF Lockheed C-130H Hercules, 8-17-1996, E of Jackson Hole
–9 Baugher, Joseph F. 1974 USAF Serial Numbers. 1-5-2012 revision.
–9 Flight Safety Foundation. “Noncompliance With Departure Procedures…” Aug 2000, 1-7.
–9 Pacific Stars and Stripes. “Clinton support plane crashes. Nine killed…” 8-20-1996, 1, 7.
–9 Walters and Sumwalt. Aircraft Accident Analysis: Final Reports. Aviation Week, 2000, 313
–9 Winchester Star, VA. “9 Killed in Military Plane Crash. C-130…” 8-19-1996, 5.
Narrative Information
ASN: “….Time: 23:48….
“First flight: 1975
“Crew: Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8
“Passengers: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
“Total: Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9….
“Location: 14.5 km (9.1 mls) E of Jackson Hole, WY
“Departure airport: Jackson Hole Airport, WY…
“Destination airport: New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY…
“Narrative: The crew failed to monitor the aircraft’s position and flight path relative to high terrain surrounding Jackson Hole Airport. Consequently, the C-130 struck a mountain. The C-130 was flying a presidential support airlift mission.” (Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. USAF Lockheed C-130H Hercules, 1996, March 17, E of Jackson Hole, WY.)
Baugher: “Lockheed C-130H Hercules. 1662 (c/n 382-4597, 40th AS) crashed near Jackson Hole, WY Aug 17, 1996 while on Presidential support mission. All 9 onboard killed.” (Baugher, Joseph F. 1974 USAF Serial Numbers. 1-5-2012 revision.)
Flight Safety Foundation: “At 2250 local time Aug. 17, 1996, a U.S. Air Force (Lockheed) C-130H struck a mountain ridge during departure from Jackson Hole Airport….
“The U.S. Air Force Accident Investigation Board, in its final report, said, ‘The crash of Havoc 58 {the call sign for the flight} was caused by crew error.’ The report said, ‘Unfortunately, mountainous terrain in all quadrants and a short runway at high altitude presented too great a challenge to crewmembers accustomed to flying in the flatlands of Texas.’
“The report said, ‘The crew…failed to avoid the mountainous terrain ahead. They were complacent and not situationally aware of their proximity to that terrain. Visual cues were limited by a dark, moonless night. Radar information, which would have been showing on the navigator’s radar scope, was not correctly interpreted. Arrival/departure charts were not studied by the pilot/copilot and were incorrectly interpreted by the navigator.’ The report said that the crew was current and qualified for the mission, and that crew rest was adequate.
“The pilot, who held the rank of captain, was executive officer of the 39th Airlift Squadron at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. He had 1,744 flight hours, including 904 flight hours in C-130s. ‘{The pilot} was an instructor pilot respected by his peers for his excellent flying skills and had been characterized as a ‘by-the-book pilot,’ the report said. ‘He had completed C-130 instructor school in March 1996. He had completed the advanced airlift tactical training course in April 1996, where he received instruction and actual flying experience in mountainous terrain’.”…. (FSF 2000, 1.)
“The flight from Dyess to Jackson Hole Airport took about three hours and 25 minutes. The flight crew conducted a visual approach and landed on Runway 18 at 2105. A passenger – A U.S. Secret Service agent – boarded the aircraft at Jackson. The purpose of the flight from Jackson Hole Airport to JFK was to transport a U.S. Secret Service communications vehicle….The aircraft was serviced with approximately 14,359 pounds…of fuel, and the 10,000-pound…communications vehicle was loaded….
“The report said that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript…showed that, while preparing for takeoff, the pilots and the navigator failed to plan for the departure….
“At 2226:46, the pilot asked the navigator about the terrain off the end of the runway. The navigator said, ‘It’s pretty much a mountain and valley terrain, rising to seventy-three hundred feet, about a thousand-foot rise, 10 miles (19 kilometers) south of the field.’ The report said that the navigator had misread his chart scale; five nautical miles (nine kilometers) south of the airport, the terrain rose to 7,339 feet….” (FSF 2000, 2.)
“The report said that the crew did not discuss obstacle-clearance data or the required climb rate for departure. ‘It appears that the crew was not aware of the climbout terrain and the obstacles on departure,’ the report said. The crew had a U.S. Department of Defense Flight Information Publication that included airport information, instrument approach procedures and instrument departure procedures. The Jackson Hole Airport approach charts contained a symbol – a white ‘T’ in a black triangle – that showed that special departure procedures were published for the airport. The Runway 18 departure procedures required, in part, an initial climb to 11,000 feet via the 188-degree radial of the Jackson VOR/DME (which is located on the airport), then a climbing left turn to the Jackson VOR/DME.
“The report said that Air Force regulations require that ‘if a departure procedure is published for the runway in use at the departure airport, the pilot should review the procedures to be familiar with the location of obstacles….When a SID {standard instrument departure} or radar vectors are used for departure, follow these procedures. If neither a SID nor radar vectors are available {or} used, the published departure procedures should be used to avoid obstacles unless alternate procedures are used to ensure all obstacles can be safely avoided.’ The report said that the CVR transcript shows that the crew did not discuss the published instrument departure procedures. ‘No one discusses the IFR departure procedures,’ the report said. ‘No one discusses the fact that, in spite of a VFR (visual flight rules) weather report, there is no moon, and one cannot see the tops of the mountains to the east.’….” (FSF 2000, 4.)
“The aircraft struck a mountain ridge 9.2 nautical miles (17 kilometers) east of the airport. The initial impact was 500 feet (153 meters) below the ridge on terrain that sloped eight degrees. ‘The aircraft impacted the ground…at an altitude of 10,392 feet…” (FSF 2000, 5-6.)
(Flight Safety Foundation. “Noncompliance With Departure Procedures Sets Course for Impact With Mountain.” Accident Prevention, Vol. 57, No. 8, Aug 2000, pp. 1-7.)[1]
Commemoration Event: “A year later in 1997, the community of Jackson, WY, erected a monument to this event in nearby Curtis Canyon. 10 years later, members of the Jackson community wish to remember this tragic occasion, on August 19th and 20th, 2006, by hosting the families of those lost during a commemoration at the monument, a BBQ, and some might also trek to the actual crash location.”
“As of April 2009, I have spoken with someone involved in the investigation of the crash that day via his viewing of this website. While nothing known has changed regarding the circumstances we all know were the cause of this tragedy, he wanted me to know & to pass on to the families and others interested, that good things have come from that investigation. New devices to monitor terrain (GPWS), both forward and down-looking, have been installed on current aircraft. The incident has been repeatedly briefed to new crews to this day, to help avoid any mistakes in information regarding civilian airports and local terrain. Air Force regs., particularly AFM 51-37 (AFMAN 11-217, Vol. 1), have been updated to reflect information & procedures learned as a result of this crash.” (“Commemoration Event, 8/19/2006 of the 10th Anniversary of an Air Force C-130 Hercules transport crash while carrying 9 personnel of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Secret Service in support of a visit to the Jackson area by former President Clinton and his family.” 3-29-2010 update.)
Walters and Sumwalt: “Investigators learned that at the time of the accident, the Airport Suitability Report for Jackson Hole indicated no special operational considerations for AMC aircraft. The computerized Airfield Database differed from the ASR, however, in reporting that the airport was suitable for ‘daylight operations only.’ Neither the flightcrew nor the planners were aware of the restriction recently placed on military operations at the airport.” [The author notes, however, that a USAF officer stated that if a waiver had been requested it would have been granted.]
Commenting on the USAF placing of blame solely on the crew, the author states: “…crew error and human error are not exactly the same, although there was plenty of both to go around….It is not known what actions the Air Force took as a result of the parallel but safety investigation [not made public] to prevent similar accidents in the future. What is known is that they were successful in identifying other issues of real concern, factors that forced the crew to be the last link in the safety chain. Those areas included: Inappropriate pairing of inexperienced crewmembers, the frenzied pace of operations and training, disregard of the effects of fatigue when scheduling flight-crews, difficulty in accessing current and appropriate airport/aeronautical information, last-minute scheduling of missions, routinely emphasizing nonflying duties, and the ‘flat-area’ flying mentality of the squadron. Each of these demonstrated some level of human error, and each played a part in this tragedy. More importantly, each must be remedied if accidents are to be prevented. And the prevention of accidents should be the sole reason why accidents are investigated.”
(Walters and Sumwalt. Aircraft Accident Analysis: Final Reports. Chapter 14: “A lack of teamwork: HAVOC 58 impacts Sleeping Indian Mountain.” Aviation Week, 2000, p. 313)
Newspapers
Aug 19, Winchester Star: “Washington — A military cargo plane that accompanied President Clinton on his vacation trip to Jackson, Wyo., crashed late on Saturday night [Aug 17] with nine people on board just after it took off for New York with presidential vehicles and other gear, military officials said.
“Officials at the crash site, a steep mountainside in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, said late on Sunday that everyone on board was killed. Eight Air Force crew members from Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, and a Secret Service employee were traveling on the C-130 cargo plane, which was headed to New York City, where President Clinton attended a 50th birthday celebration in his honor on Sunday night.
“The cause of the crash is unknown. It occurred around 10:30 p.m. MDT on Saturday about 15 miles southeast of the Jackson Hole airport in rugged, remote terrain near the top of Sheep Mountain, known locally as Sleeping Indian Mountain, in the Grand Teton range.
“It took rescuers more than three hours on foot and horseback to reach the site of the wreckage early on Sunday.
“Airport officials in Jackson Hole said they did not know whether the plane was off course because its departure had not been tracked on radar. There is no control tower at the small airport, which is surrounded by mountains. Pilots arriving in or departing from Jackson Hole use a common radio frequency to report their positions to each other. Officials said planes that leave Jackson Hole are tracked on radar by air traffic controllers in Salt Lake City, 178 miles away, but only after pilots clear the Teton Mountain Range at around 13,000 feet.
“The cargo plane “just didn’t get that high, as best we can tell,” said Gant Ginter, a commercial pilot based in Jackson Hole. “You can’t pick things up on radar in those mountains.”
“Clinton had left by helicopter from Jackson, where he vacationed last week, several hours before the crash. He flew back to Washington from a larger airport in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
“On Sunday, as he left the White House for his birthday party in New York, the president said he and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton were “very sad and shocked” by the crash. “There are always significant dangers associated with our armed forces and people in our Secret Service and others who do this work,” Clinton said. “But this is especially painful to us because they worked for me, they did an invaluable service, and I’m very, very sad about it.”
“The Air Force and the Secret Service identified the crash victims as
Air Force Capt. Kevin N. Earnest,
Capt. Kimberly Jo Wielhouwer,
2nd Lt. Benjamin T. Hall,
Staff Sgts. Michael J. Smith Jr. and
Michael R. York,
Senior Airmen Ricky L. Merritt and
Billy R. Ogston, and
Airman Thomas A. Stevens, all based at Dyess, and
Secret Service Agent Aldo E. Frascoia, 57, of Washington, D.C.”
(Winchester Star, VA. “9 Killed in Military Plane Crash. C-130 Accompanied Clinton on Wyoming Vacation.” 8-19-1996, 5.)
Stars and Stripes: “Jackson, Wyo. – Recovery teams had to hike and ride on horseback Sunday to reach the wreckage of a military cargo plane carrying gear for President Clinton that slammed into the side of a mountain. Nine people aboard were killed. The four-engine C-130 crashed and exploded in rugged terrain late Saturday night shortly after taking off from Jackson Hole Airport….
“A Clinton administration official said the pilot reported mechanical trouble and had started to return to the airport.[2] But others cautioned against speculating on why the plane went down….
“The only pieces of the plane left intact were a piece of the tail section and several wheels, said Keith Benefiel of the Teton County Search and Rescue Team.
“Air Force officials from Hill Air Force Base in Utah and from Dyess gathered Sunday and began preparations for an investigation into the cause of the accident. The plane was equipped with voice and cockpit data recorders.
“The turboprop-powered aircraft was used to shuttle presidential vehicles. It apparently was carrying a vehicle used by White House security, not a presidential limousine, officials said.
“The plane crashed about 10:30 p.m. about 15 miles southeast of the Jackson Hole Airport, along the northwestern edge of Wyoming about 30 miles south of Yellowstone National Park….
The plane slammed into Sheep Mountain, known locally as Sleeping Indian Mountain, in the Gros Ventre Wilderness of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The crash site was less than 1,000
feet below the mountain’s 11,300-foot peak.
“There are no roads or trails to the scene, and it took recovery crews more than three hours to reach the site.” (Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo, Japan. “Clinton support plane crashes. Nine killed…Air Force C-130…” 8-20-1996, 1, 7. )
Sources
Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. United States Air Force, Lockheed C-130H Hercules, 1996, March 17, E of Jackson Hole, WY. Accessed 3-13-2012 at:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19960817-3
Baugher, Joseph F. 1974 USAF Serial Numbers. 1-5-2012 revision. Accessed 3-13-2012 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1974.html
“Commemoration Event, 8/19/2006 of the 10th Anniversary of an Air Force C-130 Hercules transport crash while carrying 9 personnel of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Secret Service in support of a visit to the Jackson area by former President Clinton and his family.” 3-29-2010 update accessed 3-13-2012 at: http://www.theastrocowboy.com/c130/c130.html
Flight Safety Foundation. “Noncompliance With Departure Procedures Sets Course for Impact With Mountain.” Accident Prevention, Vol. 57, No. 8, Aug 2000, pp. 1-7. Accessed 3-13-2012 at: http://flightsafety.org/ap/ap_aug00.pdf
Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo, Japan. “Clinton support plane crashes. Nine killed…Air Force C-130…” 8-20-1996, 1, 7. http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=133907330
Walters, James M., Robert Sumwalt III. Aircraft Accident Analysis: Final Reports. Chapter 14: “A lack of teamwork: HAVOC 58 impacts Sleeping Indian Mountain.” Aviation Week, 2000.
Winchester Star, VA. “9 Killed in Military Plane Crash. C-130 Accompanied Clinton on Wyoming Vacation.” 8-19-1996, 5. http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=158702941
[1] Based on USAF Accident Investigation Board. 17 August 1996, C-130 Aircraft, USAF, S/N 74-1662 (AFI 51-503). 10-21-1996.
[2] There had been no such communication from the plane.