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Feds Say Air Force Employee Skipped Key Maintenance Ahead of 2017 Plane Crash that Killed 16 Troops

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C-130 aircrew performs a flight test at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia in July 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jamal D. Sutter)

Military.com | By Thomas Novelly and Konstantin Toropin
Published July 10, 2024 at 3:08pm ET

A former Air Force civilian engineer who led maintenance at Robins Air Force Base removed a crucial inspection procedure that could have identified a worn propeller blade before it caused a KC-130 Hercules crash in 2017 that killed 16 troops, federal prosecutors allege in newly released court documents.

James Michael Fisher, 67, the former lead engineer responsible for C-130 propeller maintenance at the Georgia base, was arrested July 2 by federal authorities as part of the investigation into the crash in Mississippi. He faces two charges relating to false statements and two charges relating to obstruction of justice.

Federal prosecutors alleged in an indictment that Fisher allowed technicians to stop conducting a key inspection procedure on propeller bores, causing a defective propeller blade to be placed back into service even though "intergranular cracking was not detected and remediated at Robins."

"Fisher was also one of the key decision-makers who removed the critical inspection procedure in August 2011," prosecutors allege. ... Federal prosecutors say the propeller blade was placed back onto the Marine Corps KC-130, call sign "Yanky 72," which was carrying 15 Marines and one Navy sailor when it suddenly crashed in a soybean field in Leflore County, Mississippi, on July 10, 2017.

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