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Technology

Video Shows the Hair-Raising Moment a Decommissioned Military Plane Lands Just Feet from Spectators

Dec. 27, 2012 2:18pm Liz Klimas

The Transall C-160 was making its final landing at Ballenstedt in Germany and as it approached the ground — toward a pack of 1,000 onlookers — the pilot lost sight of the runway causing the aircraft to dip dramatically close to those watching it.

According to LiveLeak, the plane weighs 31 tons and came within only a few feet of plane spotters as it was brought down too soon and clipped the side of the road. As Live Leak put it, some onlookers were “within inches of death.”

Transall C 160 Lands Within Inches of Onlookers on the Ground

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

The near fatal event actually took place in October but didn’t really start going viral on the Web until recently. This photo from the German newspaper Bild shows the perspective of those closest to the landing plane.

(Photo: Bild-Zietung/leserreporter via Daily Mail)

Shortly after the event, the Bild reported this account of the incident (translation from German to English via Google):

Around 1000 spectators witnessed with the scary moments from the ground – some in dangerous proximity. “After two rounds place came down the machine,” says reader reporter Herbert Dzienkowski (62).

The pensioner sees the 44-year old behemoth tears the slope of the road, the road touched, but still with a set of jumps on the sea of runway.

The situation is dramatic, especially among the 40-meter-wide wings and rotors parents are with their children. Apparently, the police did not have the barrier of entry lane expect such an incident.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Check out this close up view of how narrowly the plane missed the crowd, especially those on its right side:

This angle is further away, but you see the wing skip on the far side near the crowd:

NYC Aviationist reported earlier this year that the aircraft will be on display at Wernigerode Air Museum.

Bild stated that an investigation would not be conducted to discover what might have led to this incident because the plane was decommissioned and would no longer be flying.

For more, check out the dramatic photos from the perspective of onlookers on the other side on the Daily Mail here.

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Comments (38)

scruffycat
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 2:08pm
THOSE C-160′s are TALL babys, when you sit in your pilot seat while flying one of those YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER that you have about 3 stories of Aircraft UNDERNEATH YOUR RUMP and to KEEP THAT IN MIND while you are attempting to land OR ELSE you touch down WAY TOO EARLY like this guy did… bad pilot… remember you are flying a plane that needs more mental clearance while landing…

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TreeTrimmerJim
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:41pm
Video link is broken

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term limits for congress
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 9:56am
Entry lane police did not rotating spectators. Google ridiculous should TheFire use not.

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burnteye86
Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:44am
The translation from German to English was the best part. lol

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HappyConservative
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 10:40pm
I couldn’t tell anything from the videos about how close he was. But Blaze, I implore….Please ask Glenn to put in more money so that the videos can actually be watched from your links directly. The Blaze website cannot handle the traffic, making the video links unwatchable so I always have to copy the link for any videos on here and view from an outside source. And I have a gamer-configured computer. Please fix this. I am sure with a bit of cash and added bandwidth this website would appear much more professional. Just sayin…

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- Conservative2
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 11:25pm
  Maybe you need to spend some more on the Internet provider your using or a better modem, have never had a problem with the bandwidth here and I’m not a gamer but do run a top line AMD based computer.
  
  Report this comment
- GdHUs
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 1:33am
  Thanks! All this time I thought it was my computer that was at fault.
  
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- Yeah_Buddy
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 10:50am
  Yeah maybe all the tard trolls should go away to their fascist, progressive, commie websites. That should free up web server resources.
  
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corbecket
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 10:09pm
I don’t see that he was that close to the observers. There was a bit of distortion caused by the magnification of the lens, so things looked closer together than they were.

On the other hand, the pilot was, shall we say, far less than precise on his touchdown point. Most airplane drivers plant the mains on the runway. This…..”pilot” slammed the aircraft into terrain short of the runway. It is certainly nothing to brag about. In fact, it would endanger your career if you were doing it professionally. I see nothing in the video that would indicate that the person landing the aircraft had much on the ball. A very shaky performance, but perhaps standards are different in Germany.

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- Tayper
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 12:40pm
  Pilot was a Woman!
  
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- Coonshine
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 5:12pm
  Agreed. Bad pilot, bad story…..
  
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brigott
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 8:22pm
That third picture down makes it look like the plane landed on a really short runway.

But it must be a mile wide!

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48Straights
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 7:59pm
I dont understand what a video that went viral on youtube TWO months ago is doing in TheBlazes “The Latest” category.

I also fail to see how a decommissioned military airplane has anything to do with the “Technology” section.

But I do understand why it is being posted in a tabloid that neither reports much current news or is very technical. Anything to dumb down its readers, good job Blaze LOL.

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- Wolfgang the Gray
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 10:49pm
  You’re right, the plane story should not be listed in the Technology section. It should be moved immediately to the Faith section. As in, I pray these pilots get grounded after their terrible approach & landing.
  
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- 48Straights
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 3:25am
  Ill buy that and twice on Sunday!!!!!
  
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Black Midge
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 7:25pm
Take off’s are optional, landings are mandatory, the pilot was incompetent, the spectators are ID-10T’s

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1HonestInjun
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 6:44pm
That was one hell of a landing. Notice are narrow the short runway is compared to the wheels.
The pilot only had a few feet on each side. The first approach was aborted as he was to high. That
plane needed every inch of that runway. He touched down short as he could not see the end of the
runway from the cockpit and touched down a couple hundred feet short of the numbers. And still by the time he stopped he was equal to the yellow cones on the other end of the runway. One can see there was no approach markers like ILS or glidescope lights at that small airport. That was strickly a visual approach as no instruments in the cockpit could help him without aids on the ground. There shouldn’t have been any spectators allowed on the approach end of the runway as it was just to dangerous for them.

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Frederick_Douglass_Republican
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 6:36pm
From the video it looked like spectators were missed by feet not inches. Standing along that road so close to the end of the runway is definitely teasing death.

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- brigott
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 8:23pm
  Feet are made up of inches, so either way…..
  
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OlefromMN
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 6:35pm
I must be the only one loving the toughness of the C-130. That aircraft is a workhorse and is designed to handle the abuse in this video. (Oh, and if you are at an airshow standing in the flight/landing path be ready to run. Things go wrong at times).

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- @Ft.Benning
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 6:58pm
  C-160, not a C-130. Same basic mission but a different aircraft.
  
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AmericanStrega
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 5:32pm
Geez, talk about a short-field landing! Maybe they should have thought about using a landing field with a longer runway? Or maybe a pilot with experience with short-field landings?

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taintso
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 5:09pm
Great touch and almost go, the polish air force couldn’t do better.

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XPat
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:58pm
This ace has a future with NASA to do some of that Muslim outreach.

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justasurvivor
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:40pm
DougHuffman – that’s EXACTLY what I say at the end of every school concert! :)

Seems to me, the greatest danger of standing that close to a landing is debris being kicked up – much more likely to be hit by that which you don’t see coming than the wings which you DO see coming.

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jewishbiker
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:31pm
I found my old log book from many years ago when I could still fly. I had the same number of take-offs as I had landings! Including several of both on single approaches. he he.

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NeoKong
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:10pm
Consider it a free haircut.

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paperpushermj
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:56pm
Heres hoping the pilot and plane retire together.

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heavyduty
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:51pm
If you want to stand that close to watch it, then I would suggest by all means go ahead! But I figure that those props are going to mess you up that you have the guts to do it again!

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RaydocX
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:35pm
CyanoticChicken, if Obama had a son…
he could’ve been the one bouncing that plane home off the highway.

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engineerairborne
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:06pm
Sounds like a pilot was trying to scare the crap out of idiots standing in the way.

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Chuck Stein
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 2:57pm
LOL, Google translator. My kids showed me a funny video on Christmas about Google translator. Done by a comedy group called “Studio C” Seeing the actual product of Google translator makes the video even more funny.

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DougHuffman
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 2:54pm
Technology is fragile, any landing that one walks away from is a successful landing. N. N. Taleb, Antifragile

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IzzyKiddnya
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 2:33pm
Gee! Foolish folks standing at the approach end of a runway, while a plane lands, almost got hit?
What a surprise!

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- TSUNAMI_22
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 2:57pm
  Incompetence on the part of both the pilot and the spectators.
  
  “lost sight of the runway” my rear-end.
  
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- bluehen
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:27pm
  Its obama’s fault they almost got hit by the plane.
  
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- macpappy
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 7:40pm
  bluehen
  I don’t know about that, but I bet you that the ones standing in the way; were liberals, there only for the free food.
  
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