Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker

- On 3 May 2013, a Fairchild AFB, WA (USAF) KC-135R, 63-8877, crashed about 8 minutes after taking off from Manas Airbase in Kyrgyzstan, killing three crew members. The aircraft was at cruise altitude about 200 km west of Bishkek when it lost altitude and crashed in a mountainous area near the village of Chorgolu, close to the border between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Videotape evidence seems to indicate that the fuselage was in flames as it descended from the clouds overhead, although the tail and some wreckage (left wing, vertical stablizer, one engine, boom and boom drogue adapter) were not blackened by fire and landed some distance away. This may indicate an inflight explosion or structural failure, possibly related to thunderstorms in the area. l Although one of the last -135 aircraft built, this airframe was 48 years and 10 months old at the time of its loss.
Specifications (KC-135R)