Washington Air National Guard Boeing KC-135E 59-1452 accident
Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker · The crash of a Boeing KC-135E (s/n 59-1452) occurred on 13 January 1999 in Geilenkirchen
From Geilenkirchen to Geilenkirchen
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 4 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker
- Aircraft type
- Boeing KC-135
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- 59-1452
- Operator
- Air National Guard
- Onboard fatalities
- 4
- Route
- From GeilenkirchenTo Geilenkirchen
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Geilenkirchen, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The crash of a Boeing KC-135E (s/n 59-1452) occurred on 13 January 1999 in Geilenkirchen. All four occupants of the aircraft were killed in the crash.
Accident sequence
The Boeing KC-135E of the 141st Air Refueling Wing of the Washington Air National Guard, with the aircraft serial 59-1452, which had taken off from NATO airfield Geilenkirchen at around 17:00, was crewed by four crew members. The aircraft was on a training flight during which it refuelled a Boeing E-3A over the English Channel. When the tanker aircraft was on approach, the pilots initiated a go-around shortly before landing for unexplained reasons. The aircraft climbed very steeply, then at approx. 20:30 rolled over the right wing and crashed. All four occupants died in the crash of the aircraft.
Cause of the accident
The NTSB investigated the crash and concluded that an incorrect position of the horizontal stabilizer trim caused the crash. It could not be determined whether a technical fault or a human operating error was responsible for the incorrect position of the trim.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der Boeing KC-135E 59-1452 der Washington Air National Guard” (revision 270062417, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall der Boeing KC-135E 59-1452 der Washington Air National Guard
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 270062417 · 2026-08-29 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q110726510
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall der Boeing KC-135E 59-1452 der Washington Air National Guard" (page 12102772, revision 270062417), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- centre of the town the Wikipedia infobox site names (GeoNames, CC BY 4.0)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.