Holy Crap….

C-5 Crashes in Delaware...

From what I can tell just watching CNN is that #2 engine flammed out. The declared an emergency and attemped a return to KDOV. CNN says that they "Came Down" short of the airfield. I'm thinking that it was much more than just a simple engine flame out. Being a former Flt Engineer with the 9th AS I know how much training is geared towards engine out operation. The C-5 will fly fairly well with only three engines. Looking at the video it looks like they did have a load onboard, but even with that I don't know that three engines with a full load would be enough to cause you not to be able to make the airport. Now as far as the flame out is concerned there are really only two things that would cause that. Lack of fuel from any of many possibilities, or catastophic engine failure. If an engine was to come apart, which they have been known to do in the past, it could throw fan blades and other parts through the aircraft causing a much greater emergency. Looking at the video on TV it looks as if #2 engine looked to be intact. #1 engine was not on the aircraft and there is evidence of a fire on the outboard left wing area. This could easily be post crash damage. It did look like the aircraft was in landing configuration. The flaps aren't visiable in the pictures I've seen but the slats indicate they were at least extended to 40. The gear did appear down. The aircraft ended up in a field, my questions now would be were they not able to make the airfield or did they make a decision to put it down in the field. The good part about this is all 17 crew members are reported to be alive. The scary part is from the video and pictures I've seen the aircraft split in the forward part of the crew compartment. Forward of #5 Service Door but aft of the Avionics Bay. This of course would be right where any crew, other than loadmasters that may have been in the troop compartment, would have been located. Hearing that a C-5 crashed litterally made me sick at my stomach. I'm still not 100% but knowing that everybody made it out is really great news.