LJWorld.com

Dover , Del. — A giant Air Force cargo plane that crashed and broke apart while making an emergency landing at Dover Air Force Base yesterday was part of an aging fleet whose future is being debated.

Delaware's senators came to the scene and said that although the 21-year-old aircraft that crashed was one that's been modernized, they were confident the accident would not affect the future of the plane or the base, home to 28 of the Air Force's 110 C-5s.

"This isn't good publicity, but ... there's no reason there's a larger issue with the plane or its performance," Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., a Democrat, said.

The acting commander of the base's 436th Airlift Wing said the fact that none of the 17 people aboard the C-5B Galaxy was killed or suffered life-threatening injuries was testament to the plane's safety.

Another official at the base, which also houses a major military mortuary that handles service members killed in action, said it was a "miracle" that all aboard survived yesterday's crash.

Col. Chad T. Manske, the 436th's acting commander, said the plane's crew, from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Illinois, noticed a problem shortly after taking off from Dover at 6:21 a.m.

The pilot of the plane, which was bound for Spain and Kuwait, turned it around and was coming in for a landing when the plane crashed at 6:42 in a grassy, open field about a half-mile from the runway.

"It's too early to speculate on the cause of the crash," Manske said. He did say there's reason to believe the descending plane struck a utility pole, which caused the tail of the six-story-high, 247-foot-long aircraft to shear off.

The cockpit and one of the four engines also broke apart. The gray fuselage, however, remained intact. Under rainy, overcast skies, it sat on the ground like some headless, tail-less creature, with crew escape slides angling to the ground on both sides.

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Emergency crews respond to the scene of a C-5 cargo plane that crashed carrying 17 people, just short of a runway at Dover Air Force Base, Del,, Monday, April 3, 2006.

"The plane looks like a jackknifed tractor-trailer," Biden said.

It was carrying 14 regular Air Force and Air Force Reserve personnel and three civilian contractors, said Maj. Ange Keskey, a spokeswoman for the Air Mobile Command based at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

There also was cargo aboard the C-5B, which has a carrying capacity of 270,000 pounds. Manske would not say what the cargo was.

Fourteen of those aboard walked off the plane and were taken to a local hospital. Three were flown by helicopter to Christiana Hospital in Newark, Del., where base officials said they were in stable condition.

All flights at the base were suspended as military, police and civilian emergency responders - some wearing hazardous-material suits - poured foam on the wing that lost its engine, removed all the plane's fuel, and examined the wreckage.

The Air Force will conduct an investigation of the crash.