Military cargo plane crashes in Alaska
'It's likely there are fatalities involved in this mishap,' official says
A plume of smoke rises Wednesday after a plane crashed near Elmendorf Air Force in Anchorage, Alaska.-
ANCHORAGE, Alaska 29 / 7 / 2010—
A military cargo plane on a training run crashed in flames Wednesday at an Air Force base near downtown Anchorage, officials said. Witnesses reported seeing a ball of fire rising hundreds of feet high.
Four people were onboard the C-17 Globemaster, Air Force Capt. Uriah Orland said.
After the 6:14 p.m. crash at Elmendorf Air Force Base, access routes to the site, which was not on a runway, were closed.
Lt. Gen. Dana Atkins said the plane had been training for an upcoming weekend air show.
Atkins noted the plane was not an ejection aircraft, and said no one was expected to have survived. "It's likely there are fatalities involved in this mishap," Atkins said.
The plane was from the 3rd Wing, based at Elmendorf.
'I saw a fireball' Anchorage Fire Dept. Captain Bryan Grella said his crew was eating dinner at about 6:30 p.m. at the downtown fire station when something caught his eye.
"It was a big, gray plume of smoke, and I saw a fireball go up in it," he said.
The fireball extended about 750 feet in the air. He estimated the plume to be about two miles from downtown.
A board of officers will investigate the crash, which occurred in a wooded area.
The 3rd Wing at Elmendorf is a unit consisting of 6,000 Air Force personnel who fly fighter jets and other military aircraft.
The Boeing C-17 is a high-wing, four-engine aircraft that Boeing touts on its website as capable of carrying "large equipment, supplies and troops directly to small airfields in harsh terrain anywhere in the world day or night."
"The massive, sturdy, long-haul aircraft tackles distance, destination and heavy, oversized payloads in unpredictable conditions."
It's the third airplane incident in Anchorage this summer. In June, one child was killed and four others burned when a small plane crashed after taking off from the city's small-airplane airport in downtown Anchorage.
Days later, a small plane landed on the busy Glenn Highway, the only highway leading north out of Anchorage. There were no injuries in the latter mishap.
Gov. Sean Parnell and Sen. Mark Begich issued statements late Wednesday expressing sadness over the crash and sending well-wishes to members of the military.
"Alaskans are very connected to the military, and our thoughts and prayers are with Alaska's Air Force family," Parnell said.
Elmendorf's worst air crash was in September 1995, when several geese were sucked into the engine of an AWACS plane just after takeoff. That plane was on a training mission as well. All 24 crew members perished.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story. 
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