KC-135 crash near Bishkek
Transit Center Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker · Under investigation
From Manas, Bishkek to an unrecorded destination
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
- 3 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- Unknown
- 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
- AMC 38877 (63-8877)
- Operator
- Transit Center
- Onboard fatalities
- 3
- Route
- From Manas, BishkekTo not recorded
Approximate · Estimated position: Chogorlu, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The KC-135 crash near Bishkek was an aviation accident that occurred on 3 May 2013, involving a KC-135R tanker aircraft of the United States Air Force in the Panfilov District of the Chüy Region of Kyrgyzstan, in which 3 people were killed.
Crash
The KC-135R took off from Manas Air Base at 14:30 for a scheduled flight to Afghanistan. Soon the pilot reported that he would try to go around a thunderstorm front. A few minutes later the aircraft entered a steep descent and at 14:55 crashed in the mountains and broke up. The crash site is located between the villages of Cholok-Aryk and Chorgolu, 80 kilometres from Bishkek and 10 kilometres from the border between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. All three crew members were killed.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The cause of the crash is being determined. The inquiry is being conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic. The State Committee for National Security (GKNB) of the Kyrgyz Republic is checking the theory of a terrorist act organised by Al-Qaeda. A Russian citizen, Marat Ralifovich Safin, is suspected of organising the terrorist attack. His contacts in Iraq are being examined. In the USA the investigation is being conducted by the DIA, represented in Kyrgyzstan by the military attaché Daniel Manning. According to preliminary data, no signs of fire were found on the wreckage of the main components (the left wing panel, the fin, one of the engines).
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа KC-135 под Бишкеком” (revision 154342267, 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
Russian Wikipedia article: Катастрофа KC-135 под Бишкеком
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 154342267 · 2026-08-09 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q15954549
- 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
- ru Wikipedia article "Катастрофа KC-135 под Бишкеком" (page 4517089, revision 154342267), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A United States Air Force tanker on a flight to Afghanistan: a military flight. The article: "involving a KC-135R tanker aircraft of the United States Air Force"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Russian Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.