9 dead in military plane crash in Georgia - News - DailyTidings.com - Ashland, OR

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2 dead in military plane crash in Georgia The crashed plane lies at Georgia Highway 21 and Crossgate Road in Savannah, Ga. According to the Chatham County Coroner, two people died in the crash. IAFF574 Savannah Twitter account Wednesday May 2, 2018 at 11:30 AM A C-130 Hercules cargo plane from Puerto Rico Air National Guard crashed Wednesday morning in Savannah. Gatehouse Media Georgia EDITOR'S NOTE: The above video contains profane language. SAVANNAH, Ga. — A C-130 Hercules cargo plane from Puerto Rico Air National Guard has crashed near the intersection of Georgia Highway 21 and Crossgate Road in Savannah. According to the Chatham County Coroner, two people are dead. According to a press release from Jeffrey Bezore, Wing Executive Officer 165th Airlift Wing, the crash happened around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday during a training mission with five people on board. Mark Jones was near the intersection of Highway 21 and Gulfstream Road when he noticed the plane low in the air. “I could see (the plane) above the tree line, and it looked kind of low, like it was curving in toward the street. But I see them all the time, so I didn’t think anything of it,” Jones said. “I looked down and then looked back up, and it didn’t look like it nosedived. But it almost looked like it stalled and just went almost flat right there in the middle of the highway.” Jones said the explosion happened immediately upon impact and believes the plane could have landed on cars. “There were definitely cars going both ways… Most people stopped and got out of their cars,” he said. “I’m still shook up and shaking. My stomach is in knots because I know they’re people just like me. I wasn’t that far from it. And I could have just kept going and it would have been me, and we wouldn’t be talking right now. They were just people driving to wherever and not expecting something like that to happen.” A spokesperson with the guard’s public affairs department confirmed the crash but did not have additional updates. Roads will be shut down for an extended period of time. The C-130 Hercules is the prime transport of the Air Force and Air National Guard for airdropping troops and equipment. The plane can accommodate oversized cargo, from utility helicopters and six-wheeled armored vehicles to standard palletized cargo and military personnel. The Air Force issued the C-130’s original design specification in 1951, but it remains in production, with the latest model dating to 1999. The typical crew consists of three to five people, depending on the model. The newest ones require a crew of three: two pilots and a loadmaster. From the Savannah (Ga.) Morning News.