Military Refueling Jet Explodes, Killing 6 Ground Crew Members
A military tanker jet being serviced for minor electrical problems exploded and burned Friday at Mitchell International Airport, killing six ground crew members.
The fire spread too fast to give anyone a chance to rescue the workers aboard the Air National Guard KC-135, said Col. Eugene Schmitz, commander of the 128th Refueling Group.
The cause of the explosion and fire was under investigation.
Pilots and other personnel scrambled to move three jet tankers away from the burning plane.
“The debris was flying around and there was smoke and fire,” said Lt. Col. Chuck Hardesty, vice commander of the unit, who helped start and move one of the planes.
Hardesty said that there was an initial explosion about 7 a.m., followed a few minutes later by two more explosions. The airport was closed for about an hour.
The KC-135, a military version of the Boeing 707, is used for in-flight refueling of other planes. It was being serviced at a section of the airport where the unit is based. It had only a fraction of its normal load of fuel at the time of the explosion, Schmitz said.
The plane, last flown Thursday, had minor electrical and avionics system problems that were being repaired, Schmitz said. The problems included a burned-out beacon light and a broken switch.
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