The Pentagon recognized the six service members killed when a U.S. KC-135 refueling plane crashed in western Iraq on Thursday.
Three of the Air Power airmen have been assigned to the sixth Air Refueling Wing, MacDill Air Power Base in Florida.
- Maj. John A. Klinner, 33, of Auburn, Alabama
- Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington
- Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky
The opposite three airmen have been assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air Nationwide Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio.
- Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38, of Mooresville, Indiana
- Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30, of Wilmington, Ohio
- Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, of Columbus, Ohio
The crash, which concerned one other KC-135 tanker, continues to be underneath investigation.
A US Air Power Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aerial-refuelling plane flies over Tel Aviv on March 4, 2026. Israel launched contemporary strikes on Iran and Lebanon, the place state media reported a residential constructing was hit on March 4, as Iran’s Guards stated that they had sealed off one of many world’s most significant transport routes for power.
Jack Guez/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
The plane was misplaced whereas flying over pleasant airspace in western Iraq March 12 throughout Operation Epic Fury, in line with U.S. Central Command.
The KC-135 plane went down at roughly 2 p.m. ET on Thursday when two plane have been concerned in “an incident,” CENTCOM stated in a short assertion, confirming that “one of many plane went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely.”
“The incident occurred over pleasant territory in western Iraq whereas the crew was on a fight mission, and once more, was not the outcome, as CENTCOM has stated, was not the results of hostile or pleasant fireplace,” Joint Chiefs of Employees Chairman Gen. Dan Caine stated throughout a Protection Division briefing on Friday.
The opposite plane concerned was additionally a KC-135 tanker, in line with a U.S. official.
On Friday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine stated three of the service members killed have been Ohioans deployed with the Ohio Air Nationwide Guard’s 121st Air Refueling Wing are among the many six service members killed within the refueling mission.
A U.S. Air Power KC-135 Stratotanker flies over the U.S. Central Command space of accountability, in an undisclosed location, July 22, 2025.
USAF, Recordsdata
KC-135 plane will not be geared up with parachutes and do not need ejection seats, that are primarily in fighter plane, officers have instructed ABC Information.
Passengers and crew members of KC-135s as an alternative are educated on find out how to exit the plane when it’s on land or on water, officers stated.
In line with a 2008 Air Power profile of the tanker crews, the transfer to do away with parachutes was made as a result of the tankers “seldom have mishaps, and the chance a KC-135 crew member would ever want to make use of a parachute is extraordinarily low.”
