76th AS holds memorial for IFO-21

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Trevor Rhynes
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  The 76th Airlift Squadron held its 15th annual memorial service for the 35 members of call sign IFO-21 here, April 5.

"We still remember the family and friends we lost 16 years ago," said Col. Stephen Lambert, 86th Airlift Wing vice commander. "No matter whether we knew them by blood or by service, tragedies like this stay with us a long time."

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, his delegation and six crew members from the 76th AS passed away in a crash during a mission to rebuild Croatia after years of war.

"The crew got behind on multiple stops that day, there was bad weather, and approach issues," said Lt. Col. Anthony Schenk, 76th Airlift Squadron commander. "It all came together in a tragic accident on a mountainside right outside the capital."

Schenk and the rest of the 76th AS use this memorial service to pay tribute to their fallen crew members and as a learning experience.

"We hold this event every year in honor of the six crew members our squadron lost in 1996," said Schenk. "This is our way to pay tribute and to honor them and to make sure we retain the lessons of what we can learn from this event."

During past ceremonies, there were various things done to pay respects to the crew and passengers. This year, members of the 76th AS stood in formation, there was a mural presentation and the ceremony concluded with a C-40 flyover.

Since the crash, missions of this type executed Air Force wide has changed.

"The way the Air Force approves approaches and approach design was all changed that day, because the crew that day was flying an unauthorized approach and there are a lot of reasons for that," said Schenk. "But now crews are only allowed to fly authorized approaches, if there are any non-authorized approaches it goes through a special process before the mission executes, so that a crew can get into an airfield when there is poor weather."

Making sure this doesn't happen again is how Schenk and the other members of the 76th AS plan to honor the six crew members' memories.

"The best way we honor these six crewmembers has been and always will be to do it right, every time, by the checklist, by the book and by what we know to be right," said Schenk. "We do these checks while minimizing risk to the maximum extent possible, so that AJ, Tim, Jake, Shelley, Cheryl and rob continue to live with every successful mission flown by the men and women of the 76th Airlift Squadron."