Not to mention it’s common to substitute lookalikes for the real thing, like every pre-CGI film that used T-6 Texans as Japanese Zeroes.

I did too. I remember telling my uncle I was a fan of “Wings on tv” as a kid and he was confused, thinking I meant the NBC sitcom.

Well you kind answered your own question. It’s just the nature of combat operations and threats make landings more difficult, there are more variables for things to go wrong. Crews are, ideally anyway, well-trained and organized for such challenges.

Says two others were from Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. C-130 crashes are always a bit surreal for me personally. I grew up at Dyess for a few years and my dad was a navigator on 130s for over a decade, including MC-130P spec op planes. They may transporters but their missions are often anything but routine…