22 Killed as U.S. AWACS Plane Crashes in Alaska

A huge AWACS battlefield-radar plane carrying U.S. and Canadian military personnel crashed on takeoff and exploded in a fireball Friday, killing at least 22 people.

Two others were reported missing but there appeared to be little hope of finding any survivors of the first crash of an Airborne Warning and Control System plane since the Air Force began using the aircraft in 1977.

The plane burst into flames deep in woods near the base in an area inaccessible to fire engines. Rescuers had to bulldoze a path to the site, which was marked by a plume of smoke that could be seen 30 miles away.

The Air Force was notifying families of the victims late Friday afternoon, spokesman Maj. Jerry Brown said at a news conference at the base, 10 miles north of Anchorage.

“Just as he got wheels up, the front left engine started popping and I could see fire shooting out the end,” Clay Wallace, an Air National Guard captain who was at Elmendorf Air Force Base, told radio station KENI.

“I said, ‘Where the hell did he go?’ and all of a sudden down he went in a huge fireball.”

The plane was carrying 135,000 pounds of fuel, flight maintenance workers said.

The four-engine E-3 AWACS plane, a $180-million modified Boeing 707 laden with sophisticated radar and other electronic surveillance gear, had set out just after daybreak on a training mission with 22 Americans and two Canadians, the Air Force said.

Wallace said the plane still tried to take off after the far left engine caught fire but could not get enough power and went down in the woods about 500 feet from the end of the runway.

One witness told CBS radio news that the crash “looked like an atomic explosion--big mushroom cloud.”

The Air Force said a board of officers would investigate the cause of the crash. President Clinton, visiting San Diego, issued a statement expressing his condolences.

“Their loss reminds us how much we owe those who serve our nations’ armed forces,” Clinton said. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the families, friends and loved ones of those who were killed both in the United States and in Canada.”

Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles ordered state flags lowered to half-staff through Sunday.

Base spokesman Brown said Army airborne troops based nearby went to the crash site on foot to help.

He said he had “no idea” of the cause of the crash and that it would probably not be known until the cockpit recorder was recovered. Skies were cloudy at the time but visibility was good and weather was not a factor in the crash, base spokesmen said.

AWACS planes patrol the skies over Alaska whenever any other Air Force plane is in the air, Brown said.

A string of Air Force crashes had already resulted in 29 deaths this year. Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman, Air Force chief of staff, assembled a panel of outside experts earlier this year to study the service’s safety record.

BACKGROUND

An Airborne Warning and Control System plane has a rotating radar dome that is used to detect, identify and track aircraft and monitor the field of battle. It is able to screen out ground clutter that confuses other radar systems. During the Persian Gulf War, AWACS planes flew more than 400 missions, playing a key role in coordinating the allied air offensive.