Crash near Itta Bena preventable

WASHINGTON - Military investigators have concluded that the July 2017 crash of a Marine C-130 transport plane near Itta Bena in the western portion of Leflore County, Miss., was caused by mistakes made six years ago, according to some members of the families of the 16 service members killed. The military has briefed family members. "It kills me inside because my children could still have their dad. I could still have my husband," Ashley Kundrat told CBS News. CBS News spoke to her just after briefers from the Marine Corps told her what caused the crash that killed her husband, Staff Sgt. William Kundrat, and 15 others. The plane was flying at 20,000 feet when a blade on the left inboard propeller flew off and sliced through the fuselage. It caused major structural stress that the right inboard propeller came off and spun into the fuselage. The cockpit was severed from the plane followed moments later by the fuselage. The investigation found tiny pits of corrosion that over time had become a crack that caused the first blade to fail. "We tracked this back when it went through rework around 2011 and it was not detected," said air wing commander Brig. Gen. Bradley James. In 2011, the propeller had undergone a scheduled overhaul at this maintenance center at Robins AFB, Ga. Procedures, if “properly done should have detected that corrosion in 2011," said Brig. Gen. Kohn Kubinec, the current airwing commander. "The corrosion should have been detected. Why it wasn't, we don't know." (Source: CBS News 2/05/18)