Quick recognition, action saves 737th EAS aircrew, Soldiers

Published June 3, 2009
By Staff Sgt. Thomas J. Doscher
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- A 737th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron C-130 crew rapidly and correctly analyzed a developing situation, professionally applied emergency procedures and recovered an aircraft, its passengers and crew without incident after encountering an unforeseen wind shear event May 20.

The C-130 and its crew, hailing from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, was carrying 45 Soldiers when it was suddenly hit by violent winds while on approach to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq.

"We were on our initial approach into Al Asad," said Capt. Andrew Gillis, 737th EAS C-130 aircraft commander and San Jose, Calif., native. "We were the third aircraft to go in. No one else reported any issues. In the middle of our approach, it started getting real rocky, and our air speed indicator ended up bouncing up and down plus or minus twenty knots."

Falling back on countless hours of training and simulations, Captain Gillis advanced the throttles to max power to break off the descent and go around again. There was only one problem.

"We had absolutely max power from the airplane," Captain Gillis said. "There's a specific escape maneuver, and we were in the process of doing that maneuver, but the airplane was still sinking."

Tech. Sergeant Joe Holloway, the aircraft's flight engineer and a son of Pensacola, Fla., said even the crew on the ground could tell the aircraft was in a difficult situation.

"The controller even asked, 'confirm you're going to climb,'" he said. "So even he knew."

Finally, after sinking through the wind shear for almost seven miles, the C-130 began to climb again.

"We didn't climb away until we reached the approach end of the runway," Captain Gillis said. "So we had to be in it for seven miles, about two minutes. It started at 1,800 feet above the ground, and we recovered at 1,000 feet."

With the winds making a safe landing impossible, the crew headed for home, enduring another 30 minutes of intense turbulence. 1st Lt. Jeff Stanek, the aircraft's navigator, said the wind shear and turbulence were caused by a massive storm front hundreds of miles away.

"There was a huge storm front the size of California that moved over Turkey," the Marlboro, Md., native said. "And it moved faster than anticipated. We were clear of the actual storm, but the gust front in front of the storm is what we hit."

Lt. Col. Buff Burkel, 737th EAS commander, said the C-130 crew performed just as they were trained to and by doing so safely recovered their aircraft, their passengers and themselves.

"It's definitely what I expect from my Desert Foxes," she said. "Flying is a profession that is inherently dangerous. We spend a lot of training time teaching and practicing emergency procedures that may occur in the flight environment. Training, discipline, professionalism and teamwork are the standards. Captain Gillis and his crew met them that night."