© USAF

Date:
April 04, 1975
Location:
Saigon, South Vietnam
Aircraft:
Lockheed C-5A Galaxy
Reg:
68-218
Airline:
U.S. Air Force
Flight No:
-
Fatalities:
330 : 155

The aircraft reported it was returning to Tan Son Nhut Airbase 15 minutes after taking off. The aircraft was not able to make the airport and crashed landed into a rice paddy, 1.5 miles from the airport. The flight was evacuating 243 Vietnamese orphans. Pressure failure due to a faulty rear loading ramp caused decompression which led to severed rudder and elevator cables and loss of two hydraulic systems resulting in a loss of pitch control.