JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Authorities don't yet know what caused a military cargo plane to crash Wednesday after taking off from a Savannah airport, a spokesman for the Georgia Air National Guard said.
The Air National Guard C-130 "Hercules" cargo plane that crashed belonged to the 156th Air Wing out of Puerto Rico, according to the Air Force.
On Thursday, News4Jax learned the cargo planes from Puerto Rico are among the oldest in the National Guard fleet. A general said the planes in Puerto Rico often face delays in getting spare parts shipped to the island.
The crashed plane was soon-to-be retired, and after its retirement, the fleet would've had a total of five planes - two of which need maintenance and aren't being used.
Experts: What could have gone wrong?
Military officials said the C-130 and its variants historically have good safety records and a crash is considered a rare occurrence. Attorney Randy Reep, a longtime jet pilot in the Air National Guard, also pointed out how rare the disaster is for the type of plane.
"It's a very safe airplane," Reep said. "It's a surprising, as well as, tragic accident."
Reep said the fact that the C-130 crashed shortly after takeoff provides a clue as to what happened.
"Takeoffs and landing are obviously the most dangerous times for an airplane," he said. "So, as it was taking off perhaps, engine failures (can occur) at that phase of flight. Keep in mind, this is a four-engine airplane, designed to run with multiple engines and operate in potentially dangerous situations. So again, (it's) still very surprising that this occurred."
News4Jax aviation analyst Ed Booth said photos and videos captured by witnesses also provides more insight into what happened.
"I have seen videotape from a surveillance camera of the accident and the airplane is in a developing spin at the point of impact, which would only be possible if the pilot went below the mandatory flying speed or stalled the airplane," he said.
Booth said it may boil down to a system failure, or the contents of the plane and how they were arranged.
"One of the items that the investigators will be looking at is whether the cargo was loaded properly, or whether it shifted during takeoff, rendering the airplane uncontrollable for the pilot," Booth said.
Lockheed Martin is the manufacturer of the C-130.
Isabelo Rivera, adjutant general of the Puerto Rico National Guard, said the cargo plane that crashed in Georgia was more than 60 years old and was making its final flight into retirement in Arizona.
He said the C-130 plane had been used in the past to rescue U.S. citizens stranded in the British Virgin Islands following Hurricane Irma and ferry supplies to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria last year.
He told a news conference Wednesday in Puerto Rico that the island Guard force has five other similar planes, two of which are not in use because they require maintenance.
Other crashes
The most recent accident before Wednesday's deadly crash in Georgia happened July 10 when a Marine Corps KC130T transport plane crashed in Mississippi, killing 15 Marines and a Navy sailor when it slammed into a soybean field near Itta Bena. Officials have yet to release any reports that say why that plane crashed. It took more than two weeks for the military to collect pieces of the plane from a debris field stretching for several miles.
The Navy classifies its most serious incidents as Class A mishaps, involving death, permanent disability or more than $2 million in damage. Records show only two in-flight Class A mishaps were recorded before the Mississippi crash, both in 2002. A KC-130R experienced a flash fire and crashed into a mountain in Pakistan while nearing an airfield, killing seven people. A KC130F crash landed shortly after taking off in California, causing injuries but no deaths.