An RAF Hercules transport plane has crashed about 60 miles northwest of Baghdad. It crashed on Sunday. Nine people are confirmed dead, but that figure may rise to 15. Wreckage is reported to be scattered over a large area.

What could have caused this?

old news, some rebel group have claimed responsability, but RAF are now talking

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6886612/

Al- jazzera have shown a film that supposed to be of the attack, but the Uk are saying it does'nt add up. I tend to agree, the sky is all different colours, cloud cover etc. The area has palms and shadows all over in some shots is and then is not built up in others, and the explosion they show looks like it happened in a built up area. Saying that i would imagine that an anti- aircraft / RPG is the likely suspect

RPGs only have an effective range of 500m, and take some skill to fire accurately. A 7mph breeze can reduce accuracy by 50%. Plus in the video it shows small pieces. Youd need several dozen RPG shots to reduce a Hercules to that kind of wreckage.

Not if it was carrying ammo onboard. The UK papers are now suggesting that it was flying far too high for a stinger type missile and there may of been a bomb onboard.Thats just been on the BBC.

Bogus video - clumsy editing.

First piece shows maybe a fuzzy missile launch. Second shows something impacting the ground and burning near trees. Third shows what appears to be C-130 wreckage scattered on a grassy field, but without burn evidence to the ground, and no trees.

A new urban legend for college kids?

RPG's are not very effective against planes................ (ie they are too high, too fast, not to mention RPGs have no real guadance system)

If anything it was a SAM (but I doubt that).

Planes do crash people...............

The audio on the tape claimed it was an anti-tank missile. :D

This video is obviously a fake, just as the captured G. I. Joe toy soldier was an obvious fake. It really does not matter, however, other than for propaganda reasons. The soldiers are just as dead either way.

Reports in The Times are suggesting that it was carrying a lot of ammo, and that some of it detonated causing a massive explosion. Could happen, we used to get very blase (can't find a punctuation mark) around live ammo.

a spark could have caused the fuel tank to explode.. as far as i know from my boss thats the problem the RAF were looking into this year... some strange phenomen with charge leakage... it happened rarely and not deadly to the aircraft everytime .. but under right conditions it could be devastating.. (ofcourse old problem very common is this one:) bird hit windsheild or went inside the engine ...

They test the windshields by shooting frozen turkeys at them- seriously. and a Herc a 4 engine beast so i can't see a multiple engine failure happening.

The Hercules is a very, very resilient aircraft that is capable of sustaining an obscene amount of battle damage without losing airworth. I would be extremely surprised if this was the result of an enemy action, especially given the fact that the best AA weapon the insurgency is known to possess might as well be a slingshot against an aircraft so large.

If a Herculse looses one engine it cannot sustain altitude. I still like the idea of electrical failure or bird through window...

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12206968-23109,00.html




Now it seems it may have been a bomb planted on-board

The entire right wing of the C-130 Hercules was torn off, sending it instantly into a violent spin.A mid-air explosion caused by some muslim insurgent opposed to a representative government in Iraq would have occured within the fuselage where a device could have been planted. This sounds more like an explosion in a fuel tank in the wing.

Yep the fuel tank idea .. as I stated :)