Air Force: Crashed C-130 more than 10 years older than fleet average

PHOTOS: C-130 crashes in Savannah

Action News Jax has confirmed the plane that crashed in Savannah was at least 10 years older than the rest of the Air Force's fleet of C-130s.

We also know at least two C-130s operate out of Naval Air Station Jacksonville as part of a fleet logistics squadron that hauls equipment through the air.

The Navy wouldn’t give the exact number of planes or their approximate ages.

Local retired pilot Wayne Ziskal flew C-130s for 18 years.

On Thursday, military leaders announced the plane that crashed in Savannah Wednesday was roughly 40 years old.

Their average age was less than 28 years.

“How old is too old? Is there even a number?” Action News Jax reporter Russell Colburn asked Ziskal.

“Well, there is no number, that’s the thing,” Ziskal said.  “Many airplanes stick around for 50 or 60 years, and once they are taken down to the ribs and corrosion checked, and put back together again, they fly for a long, long time.”

The Air Force said at the end of the fiscal year in 2017, the Air National Guard was operating 189 C-130s.

“Is it something that could happen here, given we fly C-130s at NAS Jax?” Colburn asked Ziskal.

“Again, it depends on how they’re maintained and how they’re looked after,” Ziskal said.

“We always think that everything is done by the book and the maintenance cycles are enough, sometimes we see that they’re not.”

UPDATE, 5/7/18: Action News Jax got updated numbers from the Navy on its C-130s in Florida and Georgia:

-There are 5 Navy C-130Ts stationed in Florida, none in Georgia. The average age of C-130Ts currently in Florida is 23 years old.

-Four Navy C-130Ts are stationed at NAS Jacksonville.

-C-130s in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps inventory are replaced before their end of life due to modernization or recapitalization. The last variants, C-130F/R, started phasing out in 1983 with the last C-130F retired in 2015. The Navy and Marine Corps are currently in the process of replacing the C-130T with the KC-130J.

Cox Media Group