Status:	Final
Date:	10 DEC 1999
Time:	02:50
Type:	Lockheed C-130E Hercules
Operator:	United States Air Force - USAF
Registration:	63-7854
C/n / msn:	3924
First flight:	1964
Crew:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 8
Passengers:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 86
Total:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 94
Airplane damage:	Written off
Airplane fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	Kuwait International Airport (KWI) (Kuwait)
Phase:	Landing (LDG)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Kuwait International Airport (KWI/OKBK), Kuwait
Destination airport:	Kuwait-Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base, Kuwait

Narrative:
Impacted the ground approximately 2,895 feet short and about forty feet left of the runway centerline at Kuwait-Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base. Although the mishap crew was able to get the aircraft airborne following the impact, the aircraft sustained extensive damage to its main landing gear assemblies and to the adjacent fuselage areas. Part of the left main landing gear detached from the aircraft shortly after the impact. As the aircrew attempted to regain altitude, the aircraft further impacted a ground-based Instrument Landing System antenna sustaining additional damage to the right horizontal stabilizer. The aircraft returned to Kuwait City IAP where an emergency landing was carried out.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The AIB President found that by clear and convincing evidence, that the cause of the mishap was the crew's failure to follow governing directives and complacency in flight operations. As a result, the crew suffered spatial disorientation at a critical phase of flight; thereby, resulting in the crew's loss of situational awareness and failing to recognize an unsafe descent. The following factors contributed to the cause of the mishap: lack of pilot leadership and discipline; lack of support from the copilot, navigator, and flight engineer; and overall lack of sound judgment by the flight deck crew."

Events:

Sources:
» Air Force News
» USAF