Crew Blamed In C-130 Crash -- Air Force Officials Claim Airmen Ran Out Of Fuel

PORTLAND - In a confrontational meeting with the families of 10 airmen who died in a C-130 crash in 1996, the Air Force concluded yesterday that crew error caused the plane to run out of fuel and plunge into the Pacific.

"These are the facts. There is only one plausible scenario," said Maj. Gen. Bobby Floyd at the end of a formal briefing session for the families of the Air Force Reserve crew from the Portland-based 939th Rescue Wing.

The only survivor of the Nov. 22, 1996, crash off Northern California - Tech. Sgt. Robert Vogel - walked out of the crowded meeting room without talking to reporters or the large contingent of military brass who attended the briefing.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., promised to continue the investigation, saying the Air Force "rushed to judgment."

"I still have not heard any factual evidence that supports several key assumptions," Wyden said. "I feel very strongly that the way this investigation was conducted was flawed."

Floyd, who led the most recent of three investigations, was repeatedly questioned about details by the families' spokeswoman, Laura Wellnitz, widow of Capt. Kirk Wellnitz, navigator of Flight King 56.

"You have no concrete evidence," Wellnitz said after Floyd used a series of charts and diagrams to show how the Air Force thinks the King 56 crew used up all the fuel in a central fuselage tank and failed to switch over to a full auxiliary tank.

Bill Galbreath, an attorney for Vogel and several families, said there was "no way on God's green Earth" that 11 veteran pilots and crewmen could fail to see their fuel was running low.

Floyd, however, said the exhaustive investigation ruled out 20 of the 21 possible causes of the crash and left only one reason: Its fuselage tank ran dry.

He avoided blaming any single crew member, although the responsibility for monitoring the fuel fell on flight engineer, Robert Roberts.

"Bob was an evaluator who trained other engineers," said his sister, Rochelle Storlie. "He could do his job blindfolded. But we expected this. Blaming the crew is just the easiest way out."

Vogel and some families of the crash victims have sued Lockheed Martin and Allison Engine, accusing the companies of designing and manufacturing defective parts. The lawsuit says an electrical surge aboard the plane crippled devices that read engine temperatures and regulate fuel flow, causing the engines to quit.