{{Infobox aircraft occurrence , name = Green Ramp disaster , image = GreenRampWreckage.jpg , image_size = 210 , caption = Wreckage of the

Lockheed C-141 Starlifter The Lockheed C-141 Starlifter is a retired military strategic airlifter that served with the Military Air Transport Service (MATS), its successor organization the Military Airlift Command (MAC), and finally the Air Mobility Command (AMC) of the ...

destroyed by the accident. , date = March 23, 1994 , type =

Mid-air collision In aviation, a mid-air collision is an accident in which two or more aircraft come into unplanned contact during flight. Owing to the relatively high velocities involved and the likelihood of subsequent impact with the ground or sea, very sever ...

caused by ATC and pilot error , occurrence_type = Accident , site =

Pope Air Force Base Pope Field is a U.S. military facility located 12 miles (19 km) northwest of the central business district of Fayetteville, in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States.. Federal Aviation Administration. effective 15 November 2012 ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, coordinates = {{coord, 35.168, -79.025, type:event, display=inline,title , total_injuries = over 100 , total_fatalities = 24 (on ground) , plane1_type = General Dynamics F-16D Fighting Falcon , plane1_operator =

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

, plane1_tailnum = 88-0171 , plane1_crew = 2 , plane1_survivors = 2 , plane2_type =

Lockheed C-130E Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...

, plane2_operator = United States Air Force , plane2_tailnum = 68-10942 , plane2_passengers = , plane2_crew = 3 , plane2_survivors = 3 , plane3_type = Lockheed C-141B Starlifter , plane3_operator = United States Air Force , plane3_tailnum = 66-0173 , plane3_passengers = , plane3_crew = , plane3_survivors = } {{Location map , USA , relief = 1 , label = Pope AFB , lat = 35.168 , long = -79.025 , caption = Location in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, marksize = 5 , float = , background = , width = 235 {{Location map , USA North Carolina , relief = 1 , label = Pope AFB , lat = 35.168 , long = -79.025 , caption = Location in

, marksize = 5 , position = top , float = , background = , width = 180 The Green Ramp disaster was a 1994

mid-air collision In aviation, a mid-air collision is an accident in which two or more aircraft come into unplanned contact during flight. Owing to the relatively high velocities involved and the likelihood of subsequent impact with the ground or sea, very sever ...

and subsequent ground collision at

. It killed twenty-four members of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

's 82nd Airborne Division preparing for an airborne training operation.{{cite news, url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=46ksAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8hQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5460%2C3032285 , newspaper=Wilmington Morning Star , agency=Associated Press , last=Dalesio , first=Emery P. , title=16 killed when F-16, C-130 collide at Pope , date=March 24, 1994 , page=1A{{cite news, url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4aksAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8hQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4920%2C3626736 , newspaper=Wilmington Morning Star , agency=Associated Press , last=Thompson , first=Estes , title=Crash death toll is at 20 , date=March 25, 1994 , page=1B{{cite news, url=http://www.fayobserver.com/news/local/article_cf473fdc-5300-57ef-bcee-253bfa6ed707.html , newspaper=Fayetteville Observer , last=Brooks , first=Drew , title=Survivors mark 20-year anniversary of Pope Air Force Base Green Ramp crash , date=May 23, 2014 , access-date=June 16, 2014 As of 2022, this incident remains the largest loss of non-passenger life in the accidental crash of an aircraft on U.S. soil. It was also the worst peacetime loss of life suffered by the division since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Crash

The "Green Ramp" is the large north-south parking ramp at the west end of Pope AFB's east-west runway, used by the U.S. Army to stage joint operations with the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

. Several buildings sit along its western edge, including Building 900, the building housing the Air Force operations group. A personnel shed ("pax shed," a large open-bay building) sat next to Building 900, which the Army used to prepare troops for parachute drops. A large grassy area, where troops could stage before drops, lay between the two buildings. Behind the area, several concrete mock-ups of the backs of Air Force cargo aircraft had been constructed, where troops could rehearse their drop procedures. On the day of the accident, about 500

paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during Worl ...

s from adjacent Fort Bragg were in the pax shed, the concrete mock-ups or resting in the grassy area. The personnel came from three division units, the First Brigade, 504th Infantry Regiment, and 505th Infantry Regiment. While the jumpers prepared to board several C-130 Hercules and

C-141 Starlifter The Lockheed C-141 Starlifter is a retired military strategic airlifter that served with the Military Air Transport Service (MATS), its successor organization the Military Airlift Command (MAC), and finally the Air Mobility Command (AMC) of the ...

aircraft parked on Green Ramp, the sky was filled with F-16 Fighting Falcon,

A-10 Thunderbolt II The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 1976, it is named for the Republic ...

, and C-130 aircraft conducting training.

Mid-air collision

Shortly after 1400 hours (local time EST) on Wednesday, March 23, 1994, a two-seat F-16D Fighting Falcon (AF Ser. No. 88-0171, c/n 1D-25, of the 74th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Operations Group) with two pilots (Captains Joseph Jacyno and Scott Salmon) on board was conducting a simulated

flameout In aviation, a flameout (or flame-out) is the run-down of a jet engine or other turbine engine due to the extinction of the flame in its combustor. The loss of flame can have a variety of causes, such as fuel starvation, excessive altitude, com ...

(SFO) approach when it collided with a C-130E Hercules (AF Ser. No. 68-10942, c/n 4322, of the

2nd Airlift Squadron The 2nd Airlift Squadron is an inactive airlift of the United States Air Force squadron that was last stationed at Pope Army Airfield, North Carolina, where it operated Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft. The squadron was assigned to the 43rd Airli ...

, 317th Group) piloted by Captain Jose Raices, Lieutenant Adam Zaret, and Sgt. Joel Myers. Both aircraft were members of the 23rd Wing, which was the host unit at Pope AFB at the time. The aircraft were on short final approach to runway 23 at an altitude of about {{convert, 300, ft, -1

above ground level In aviation, atmospheric sciences and broadcasting, a height above ground level (AGL or HAGL) is a height measured with respect to the underlying ground surface. This is as opposed to height above mean sea level (AMSL or HAMSL), height above elli ...

. The nose of the F-16D severed the C-130E's right

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

. On impact, the F-16 pilot applied full

afterburner An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and co ...

to try to recover the aircraft, but it began to disintegrate, showering debris on the runway and a road that ran around it. Both F-16 crewmembers

ejected Ejection or Eject may refer to: * Ejection (sports), the act of officially removing someone from a game * Eject (''Transformers''), a fictional character from ''The Transformers'' television series * "Eject" (song), 1993 rap rock single by Sense ...

, but their aircraft, still on full afterburner, continued on an arc towards Green Ramp. At the same time, the C-130 crew took their aircraft away from the airfield and checked to ensure it could safely land. While the C-130 crew knew they were most likely struck by the F-16, they had no idea how it happened or the extent of the damage. After performing their checks, the crew returned to Pope and landed on the debris-littered runway.

Ground collision

By the time the C-130 landed, the F-16 had hit Green Ramp heading west. The aircraft struck the ground in an empty parking place between two C-130s with crews on board preparing the aircraft for departure. When the F-16 hit the ground, its momentum carried the wreckage westward through the right wing of a C-141B Starlifter (AF Ser. No. 66-0173 of the 438th Airlift Wing, McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey) parked on the ramp. The C-141B crew was preparing the aircraft for joint Army-Air Force operations; however, no Army troops besides the jumpmaster team had yet boarded it. The wreckage of the F-16 punctured the fuel tanks in the C-141's right wing, causing a large fireball, which combined with the F-16 wreckage and continued on a path taking it between Building 900 and the pax shed, directly into the area where the mass of Army paratroopers were sitting and standing. Twenty-three men died and more than eighty were injured;{{cite news, url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=36ksAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8hQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5528%2C3842412 , newspaper=Wilmington Morning Star , agency=Associated Press , title=Some at crash were hit by ammo from fighter jet , date=March 26, 1994 , page=3B one severely burned paratrooper died more than nine months later, on 3 January 1995. Paratroopers at the scene pulled troopers from the flames and the exploding {{convert, 20, mm, in, 1, abbr=on ammunition from the F-16. First upon the scene were vehicles and medics from the Army's

Delta Force The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), referred to variously as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), "The Unit", or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Task Fo ...

, which was based adjacent to Green Ramp. Numerous Army tactical ambulances with medical teams were immediately dispatched from the 55th Medical Group and 23rd Medical Group (USAF) to ferry the injured to

Womack Army Medical Center Womack Army Medical Center (WAMC) is a United States Army-run military hospital that is located on Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, North Carolina. The facility is named for Medal of Honor recipient Bryant H. Womack. It contains 138 beds, with ab ...

. These medics were among the first upon the scene and provided assistance after notification to MSG Richard Young of the 44th Medical Brigade Operations at Fort Bragg by a cell phone call from SFC Juan Gonzales at HQ, 44th Medical Brigade who was awaiting an airborne jump at Pope AFB. Others were transported to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, and others were flown to the UNC Hospitals' Burn Center in Chapel Hill.{{Cite web , last=Brooks , first=Drew , title=The Green Ramp Disaster, 24 years later , url=https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/military/2018/03/22/green-ramp-disaster-24-years-later/12917460007/ , access-date=2022-09-26 , website=The Fayetteville Observer , language=en-US

Aftermath

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Clinton visited the site two days after the incident and met with the injured at Womack at Fort Bragg.{{cite news, url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=36ksAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8hQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3957%2C3790297 , newspaper=Wilmington Morning Star , title=Clinton meets with victims , agency=Associated Press , date=March 26, 1994 , page=1A Several of the more severely burned victims were taken to the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research at

Brooke Army Medical Center Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) is the United States Army's premier medical institution. Located on Fort Sam Houston, BAMC, a 425-bed Academic Medical Center, is the Department of Defense's largest facility and only Level 1 Trauma Center. BAMC ...

, Texas. Two months after the accident, only one paratrooper remained critical, while the others were either in satisfactory condition or convalescing at home. A subsequent U.S. Air Force investigation placed most of the blame for the accident on the military and civilian

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

lers working Pope air traffic that day.{{cite news, url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yassAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RRUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3945%2C981243 , newspaper=Wilmington Morning Star , title=Air Force to dig deeper into crash at N.C. base , agency=Associated Press , last=Schafer , first=Susanne M. , date=January 18, 1997 , page=3B The Air Force investigation identified "multiple causes" for the midair collision, faulting air traffic control for the "majority of errors." Although the F-16 pilot was partly to blame because he did not "see and avoid and stay well clear of the mishap C-130," as required by Air Force regulations, there were extenuating circumstances. The pilot testified that he did not see the C-130; however, after the control tower had made him aware of its presence, he began executing a low approach, when the collision occurred. Two Air Force officers involved in the crash were relieved of duty and transferred to other jobs. Three enlisted men also were disciplined. One of the enlisted controllers was later subject to Article 15 action. A later investigation stated that

pilot error Pilot error generally refers to an accident in which an action or decision made by the pilot was the cause or a contributing factor that led to the accident, but also includes the pilot's failure to make a correct decision or take proper a ...

by the F-16 pilots also contributed to the mishap, but no disciplinary action was taken against the pilots.

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

*{{Cite book, last=Condon-Rall , first=Mary Ellen , title=Disaster on Green Ramp: The Army's Response , year=1996 , url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/green-ramp/popec.htm , publisher=

United States Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Ar ...