Military Clears Crew of Plane That Took Flight as Afghans Fell to Their Deaths

WASHINGTON — The Air Drive has cleared the crew of an American navy C-17 cargo airplane that took off from Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport in Kabul final August with individuals hanging onto the wings, in the course of the frenzied days of the Afghanistan evacuation.

Twin evaluations of the harrowing incident, during which human physique components had been later found within the wheel nicely of the airplane, concluded that the aircrew was “in compliance with relevant guidelines of engagement,” Ann Stefanek, an Air Drive spokeswoman, mentioned in an announcement on Monday. The evaluations had been carried out by the Air Drive’s Air Mobility Command and United States Central Command.

It stays unclear precisely how many individuals died within the episode on Aug. 16, 2021, as a crowd of Afghans, determined to flee the nation after their authorities collapsed below the Taliban, climbed onto the surface of the airplane and fell from it after the flight took off.

Video of the horrific scene, recorded by the Afghan information media, circulated world wide.

“This was a tragic occasion and our hearts exit to the households of the deceased,” Ms. Stefanek mentioned within the assertion. Pentagon officers mentioned traumatized members of the aircrew had been later despatched for consultations with psychological well being professionals and chaplains.

Ms. Stefanek mentioned that the crew “acted appropriately and exercised sound judgment of their determination to get airborne as shortly as doable when confronted with an unprecedented and quickly deteriorating safety state of affairs.”

In the course of the panic on the airport within the days after the autumn of the Afghan authorities, American pilots and troops had been compelled to make tough, on-the-spot choices. Hours earlier than the transport airplane left Kabul, one other C-17 had taken off with 640 individuals crowded on board — greater than double the quantity deliberate for — after a whole lot of Afghans who had been cleared by the State Division for evacuation surged onto the loading ramps, navy officers mentioned. The pilots determined that the immense plane may deal with the load and took off, officers mentioned. That airplane landed at its vacation spot safely.

Early the subsequent morning, a grey Air Drive airplane — name signal REACH885 — descended onto the runway. The lumbering jet was carrying gear and provides for the U.S. Marines and troopers who had been securing the airport in Kabul and serving to with the evacuation of 1000’s of Individuals and Afghans.

Minutes after the airplane had touched down, rolled to a cease and lowered its rear ramp, a whole lot, maybe 1000’s, of Afghans rushed ahead.

The crew members jumped again up into the airplane and pulled up the loading ramp earlier than they’d completed unloading, officers mentioned.

By then, throngs of Afghans had climbed aboard the wings and, unbeknown to the crew, into the wheel nicely the touchdown gear would fold into after takeoff, officers mentioned.

The crew contacted air visitors management, which was operated by U.S. navy personnel, and the airplane was cleared for takeoff.

The pilots taxied slowly at first. Army Humvees rushed alongside, attempting to chase individuals away from and off the airplane. Two Apache helicopter gunships flew low, searching for to scare some individuals away from the airplane or push them off with their highly effective rotor wash.

REACH885 accelerated and was airborne.

Minutes later, nevertheless, the pilot and co-pilot discovered that the touchdown gear wouldn’t absolutely retract. They despatched a crew member down to see by a porthole.

It was then that the crew noticed the stays of a nonetheless undetermined variety of Afghans who had stowed away within the wheel nicely, apparently crushed by the touchdown gear. Scenes captured in movies of the flight confirmed different individuals plunging to their demise.