Emergency Landing At Key Field Today

KEY FIELD AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Miss. --  

While performing a routine air refueling mission, a KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft belonging to the 186th Air Refueling Wing made an emergency landing, today, at Key Field.

The pilots and crew landed safely, and no one was injured.

The boom of the aircraft was damaged during flight and unable to retract for the landing.

“We are immensely thankful that no one was injured," said Col. Cynthia Smith, commander of the 186th Air Refueling Wing. “Our crews train for situations like this, and they were highly successful in handling this emergency situation.”

     The incident will be investigated to determine the cause of the boom damage.

The 186th Air Refueling Wing provides 1,100 personnel and eight KC-135R aircraft to Air Mobility Command for worldwide operations. Additional units at Key Field include the 238th Air Support Operations Squadron, the 248th Air Traffic Control Squadron, and the 186th Air Operations Group.