Officials: C-17 crash report not true - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Officials: C-17 crash report not true

An Air Force C-17 did not crash Monday morning in Olney, Texas, contrary to a CNN report, according to Mike Kucharek, an Air Force spokesman at North American Aerospace Defense Command.

A C-17 out of Altus Air Force Base, Okla., was flying over Olney, which is about 130 miles west of Dallas, during a training mission, but the crew returned safely, said service spokesman Ed Gulick.

The Olney Police Department did receive a 911 call Monday morning from a person who reported a “downed plane in a pasture,” but city officials never found a plane despite a search that included the police and fire department, she said.

The 911 caller did not specify the plane was an Air Force C-17, but when Olney police called the Federal Aviation Administration they were told a C-17 was the only aircraft flying near Olney, Bond said.

Air Force officials said the C-17 crew was performing a nap-of-the-earth exercise where the pilots fly at an extremely low altitude, which Gulick said could be perceived as a near crash. Pilots fly nap-of-the-earth patterns in combat to evade radar identification.