Report: Propeller blade broke, causing 2017 plane crash
Posted December 5, 2018 9:38 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Investigators are blaming a broken propeller blade for causing a military plane crash last year that left 16 service members dead in a Mississippi soybean field.
Investigators with Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing released the report Wednesday into the July 10, 2017 crash.
The report says the propeller blade broke off and slammed into the plane’s fuselage, causing the U.S. Marine Corps KC-130T plane to crash into farmland near Itta Bena, Mississippi.
The investigation determined that the aircraft’s propeller did not receive proper “depot-level maintenance” during its last overhaul in September 2011, which missed corrosion that may have contributed to the propeller blade breaking off in-flight. The report also says nothing the crew could have done would have prevented the crash.
Chevel Johnson, The Associated Press
