Green Ramp Disaster

A clear spring afternoon. Hundreds of paratroopers prepping for routine jumps. Then a midair collision ignites 55,000 gallons of jet fuel and turns a quiet staging area into a battlefield. We walk through the Green Ramp disaster step by step, from the moment an F-16 on a simulated flameout approach clipped a C-130 on final to the fireball that struck the 82nd Airborne and 18th Airborne Corps at Pope Air Force Base in 1994.

We set the scene on Green Ramp—the mock doors, the Pack Shed, the tight corridors that left few escape routes—and recount how small decisions, congested airspace, and timing converged into catastrophe. You’ll hear how the fire spread, why some paratroopers survived by dropping and rolling, and how split-second choices shaped outcomes when ammunition cooked off and fuel-soaked uniforms turned rescuers into patients. The story then shifts to the response: firefighters linking hoses across agencies, medics turning doors into litters, and pilots, instructors, and bystanders moving as one to evacuate the wounded.

Inside Womack Army Medical Center, a mass casualty plan snapped into action. Double staffing at shift change, rapid intubations for burn airways, ventilators pulled from nearby military hospitals, and operating rooms brought online within minutes—each element reveals what real readiness looks like under extreme pressure. We detail the numbers, the surgeries, and the transfers to burn centers, then examine the investigations that followed, including air traffic control failures, questions of see-and-avoid, and the discipline that reshaped procedures.

This is a story about systems, human judgment, and the thin line between realism and risk in military training. It’s also about courage—the firefighters who held the line, the medics who worked the lawn triage, and the soldiers who carried each other through flame and smoke. If this episode moved you, share it with a friend, leave a quick review, and subscribe so you don’t miss the next story we uncover.

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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stakes
• 0:56 Sponsor And Scene Setting
• 1:30 Paratrooper Prep On Green Ramp
• 4:26 The Midair Collision
• 5:53 Fireball Strikes The Staging Area
• 7:37 Chaos, Heroism, And Initial Rescue
• 9:06 Firefighting Coordination
• 11:02 Medical Response Mobilizes
• 13:11 Womack ER Overwhelmed
• 16:20 Surgeries, Transfers, And Toll
• 19:36 Investigation And Accountability
• 22:50 Closing Reflections And Listener CTA

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Who really likes going through training? Despite it being an often necessary part of life? Gotta learn how to do things somehow. And for some, training might just take a few hours, maybe a couple days. For others, like the military, training is an ongoing and never-ending process. While training is meant to prepare you for the job at hand, sometimes shit happens. Accidents beyond your control take place and put your own life at risk. Like on March 23rd, 1994, when an F-16D had a mid-air collision with the C-130 that led to the deaths of paratroopers training nearby. So, what happened? I'm Andrew, and this is History's A Disaster. Tonight we're flying into the Green Ramp Disaster. The worst peacetime training accident on American soil took place at Pope Air Force Base in 1994. Tonight's episode is brought to you by Sunstopper 4000. With its new patent pending formula, Sunstopper 4000 SPF 400 will not only protect you from the sun's nasty rays and prevent you from burning up in the mid-afternoon sun, but it'll keep you cool during the worst of the heat. March 23rd, 1994 was a clear sunny day. The breeze was calm, and the temperature was just about right in the mid-60s. Which makes it a good day to be outside. You know, throwing a frisbee, going on a picnic, or even jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Which is exactly what several units from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, as well as the 18th Airborne Corps, were planning on doing. The 18th Airborne Corps, stationed at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, North Carolina, had scheduled two parachute missions for the day, one in the late afternoon and another in the evening, using planes from Pope Air Force Base. Due to Army regulations, they were required to undergo pre-jump exercises within 24 hours of taking off. So the paratroopers gathered on the staging area known as Green Ramp, which is on the southern end of Pope's main runway. Green Ramp contained the Jumpmaster School Buildings, the Jumpers Assembly Building, which is often called the Pack Shed, a series of connex containers, and just for reference, a con X container is a shipping container, like what you'd see on the back of a semi minus the wheels and frame. Two Air Force buildings, a snack bar, and the jump master school training area, where mock doors and C-130 and C-141 mock aircraft were located, all lined up in a neat little row. The paratroopers used these mock-ups for practicing aircraft exits, as well as smaller platforms in between the mock-ups for practicing parachute landing falls. A pair of C-141 starlifters, which are not normally there but participating in the exercises, sat on the tarmac about 75 feet from the mock doors waiting for the upcoming missions. Vehicles lined the driveway near the pack shed and next to the jump master school. The paratroopers on Green Ramp were in the middle of doing different things in preparation for the upcoming jump. Some of them readied themselves for practice jumps from the first set of mock doors, while others sat on the ground with their backs to the airfield as they listened to the jump master's review on static line injuries. From a small platform in front of the trailers, paratroopers rehearsed parachute landing falls by repeatedly jumping off the platforms. Others formed assembly lines in the area between the cargo shed and the concrete platforms. After their names were called, they moved out to the chalk lines at the far end of the marshalling area, waiting to get their chutes. Close to 500 paratroopers were on green ramp that afternoon. Many of them were crowded into a narrow corridor formed by the pack shed and the connects containers on one side and the snack bar and mock-ups on the other side. More paratroopers attended airborne classes held at the nearby Jump Master School. Overhead, aircraft were doing their own training. A two-seat F-16D fighting falcon of the 74th Fighter Squadron, with Captains Joseph Jacino and Scott Salmon on board and conducting a simulated flame out approach when it collided with a C-130E Hercules, crewed by Captain Jose Races, Lieutenant Adam Zarat, and Sergeant Joel Myers. Both aircraft crews were members of the 23rd Wing, which was the host unit at Pope Air Force Base at the time. The aircraft were on final approach to runway 23 at about 300 feet above ground level. The nose of the F-16D sliced through the C-130E's right elevator. Upon impact, Captain Jacino applied full afterburner to try to recover the plane, but the F-16 had already started to come apart around them, throwing debris on the runway and the road that ran around it. With no other options, they ejected, but the F-16, still flying on full afterburner, continued on towards Green Ramp. The C-130 crew was able to get away from the airfield and check to ensure it could safely land. While the C-130 crew knew they were most likely struck by the F-16, they had no idea what happened or how bad it was. After checking everything out, they returned to Pope and landed on the debris-littered runway. While the pilots from the F-16 made it safely away, the wreckage that had been their plane continued on and ploughed into a C-141's right wing on the ground. This collision punctured the fuel tanks, causing both planes to explode in flames as searing hot metal debris and 55,000 gallons of aviation fuel was thrown across the tarmac. The ensuing fireball combined with the wreckage from the F-16 that was still traveling onwards, right towards Green Ramp, and the hundreds of paratroopers gathered there. The 75-foot-wide fireball scattered the paratroopers at Green Ramp as it approached. As the fireball burst through the treetops, many of them began to run towards the fence at the end of the marshalling area. There was an earthen berm there that ran parallel to the fence that they used to duck behind for cover. Some braced themselves behind the metal containers for protection. Others ran in the opposite direction. In the narrow confines of the green ramp, there was not a lot of options to choose from. Some would find safety, most, however, did not. Troopers who hit the ground and rolled made out better than those who tried to outrun the fireball. Those that ran were either too slow, got tricked up by equipment littering the yard, or just had no place to go. Those lucky enough to come out of it unharmed would come to the aid of the injured. All around, groups gathered around the injured to try to help them, trying to put out fires on the injured and checking to see if they were still alive. Others were running around in half panic, half dazed, looking for someone to help or something to do. Paratroopers rolled on the ground to smother the flames on them. The green ramp had turned into a vision straight from the depths of hell. Nearby food trucks were crushed and burning. Red-hot metal debris rained down, making constant pinging noises as they hit the mock-ups and containers. Smoke filled the area, further obscuring their view. The roar of the flames is a constant reminder of the danger. Once the fireball passed over the paratroopers, they were still not safe. Ammunition from the F-16's 20mm chain gun began cooking off in the heat. Paratroopers, many of whom were on fire, suddenly had to worry about bullets flying past. Others who had become soaked in aviation fuel unknowingly caught themselves on fire as they tried to help put out the flames covering their fellow soldiers. Since most things like their VDUs were covered in gas, they had to use water from their canteens and sand and mud to try to smother the flames. Those that could help to start moving the injured to the guard shed, which they had named as a casualty evacuation point. Many nearby who had not been involved in the accident rushed onto Green Ramp to try to help. This included instructors from the Jump Master School, medics from the Special Forces, members of Fort Bragg's 44th Medical Brigade who just happened to be training nearby, and others who just happened to be in the parking lot. The fireball never reached them, but they saw what happened and ran to help. To transport wounded to the Womac Army Medical Center on Fort Bragg, they commandeered anything they could. Trucks, Humvees, personal cars, anything they could get their hands on. Everyone who either had witnessed the explosion or were nearby tore apart the jump master school to make leaders of plywood, doors, and metal struts for the victims. They grabbed anything they could use to move people. Using the makeshift leaders, they dragged people to the waiting vehicles that had been rounded up and were loaded down with as many of the injured as they could fit. All of the injured who were still alive would be taken to Wilmax main hospital within 45 minutes of the accident. The base's contingency planning allowed firefighters to get there quickly. When the first alarm sounded, Pope Air Force Base firefighters were at the crash within two minutes and were battling fires within three. Fort Bragg and Cumberland County firefighters arrived at POTS fire station within 15 minutes. A new mutual aid program set up by the military and civilian fire chiefs helped get the fire departments there quickly. After the Pope dispatcher called the county dispatcher requesting help, the dispatcher just had to hit a few switches which would send out the calls to the fire departments. Since military and civilian firefighters use similar equipment, the firemen could hook up to each other's systems and work together. Fort Bragg's ladder truck linked hoses with a fire truck from Spring Lake Fire Department. Together they poured foam and water on the C-141 to keep its fuselage from going up. Within 20 minutes, the aircraft was under control. To stop the second C-141 from going up, the maintenance crews towed the starlifter 300 yards away. Other fire engines put out fires around the base. The combined efforts of five firetrucks succeeded in putting out the fires within 50 minutes of the crash. When the fires were out, the firefighters searched for the F-16's tank of hydrazine, a chemical used for emergency engine restarting. Hydrazine is a highly toxic chemical they did not want just lying around. They would later find the canister near the center of the accident site. Within minutes of getting the call, medical rescue teams from Pope Air Force Base and Fort Bragg reached the scene. Four ambulances from the 23rd Medical Squadron answered the call from various locations. Three of the ambulances were on the road and witnessed the collision. One of these would go on to rescue the two F-16 pilots and take them to the Pope Air Force Base Clinic. The 23rd Medical Squadron's unit control center activated because of the crash and sent out a 5th ambulance, medicines, and supplies to Green Ramp. The 44th Medical Brigade also arrived with ambulances within minutes. In response to the alert, Womac Army Medical Center activated its disaster plan and sent ambulances to Green Ramp also. Two UH-60 Medevac helicopters from the 57th Medical Company had also flown in and landed near Green Ramp as well. The first chopper arrived eight minutes after being called in and departed for Womac with two leader cases shortly after. The second helicopter touched down but would not be needed to evacuate. Six other Medevac choppers stood by at Womac and at nearby Simmons Army Airfield to transfer anyone from Womac to other facilities. Only limited triage would occur at the crash site because of the fire and exploding ammunition, along with the number of medical personnel and vehicles available that make quick work of transporting casualties to Womac. Six burn patients were taken to the Pope Air Force Base Clinic and later transported to Womac. Nine were pronounced dead at the scene and placed in a temporary morgue in a small building near the crash site before being moved to the morgue at Womac. The emergency department at Womac activated their mass casualty plan after getting the call. Assuming the worst, additional emergency room physicians, nurses, and medical technicians were called in. At the same time, every other department was alerted and activated their own plans. The emergency room was cleared of anyone not needing immediate care. Extra stretchers and carts were brought in. They did everything they could to prepare for the wounded they knew were coming. Inpatient wards prepared to receive casualties as well. The first victims that enter the emergency room were two food vendors with minor burns who were sent to the outpatient clinic. The next patient arrived on a plywood stretcher. He had lost a leg and a tourniquet was held in place by a crowbar. He was conscious and alert and sent to the trauma area. Another trooper suffered burns on 100% of his body. Emergency room staff cared for him while they arranged for him to be transported to a regional burn facility. Outside the emergency room, vehicles with casualties on board arrived one after another. Burns covered 80-90% of their bodies. Some had head injuries, bone fractures, and trapnel wounds. Hospital staff ran out to meet the casualties. Since the emergency room could not hold the number coming in, triage was started in the driveway. Doctors pronounced dead two who had suffered cardiac arrest en route and escorted three others to the outpatient clinic. The triage area spilled over into an oval of grass situated inside a horseshoe drive that ran up to and away from the emergency room. Within half an hour, every inch of lawn was covered with the injured. Casualties lay on plastic sheets or on temporary leader stands. Sterile covers protected the burned paratroopers. Medical staff applied saline solutions to burns and gave Ivy fluids to prevent shock. Volunteer soldiers held sheets tied together to form a perimeter around the oval and protect the patient's privacy from the reporters who had begun to gather across the street. Inside the hospital, patients filled the 22 emergency room beds. People lay on stretchers on the floor between the beds and in every space available in the waiting room and the hallway outside. Nearby hospitals were notified of the crash and arrangements were made to receive additional help. The burn centers at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, as well as the Army Burn Unit located at Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio, were also contacted. The majority of the injured had flooded through the emergency room within an hour of the crash. To care for the injured, each treatment team was assigned an emergency room physician, one or two nurses, and two medical technicians. Often these team members had not worked together before or had never worked in an emergency room, but all had done the basics like inserting folies and IVs, and were just told what basics needed to be done. The accident happened near the change of shift for Womac, which would leave the hospital double staffed, greatly helping out with the number of casualties coming in. During triage, trauma casualties were given cervical collars to provide support and anesthesia specialists to check airways. Because burns caused lung damage and throat injury, intubation became necessary for many patients. Roughly 40 casualties were intubated and placed on ventilators sometime during their treatment. Because 28 patients needed ventilation simultaneously, the hospital was able to get additional ventilators from the 28th Combat Support and 5th Surgical Hospitals. All the casualties were given IVs and medication. Most patients also received initial burn treatment, mainly just the application of ice, saline, and silvedine to burned areas, followed by esterotomy, which is an incision around burns required to restore blood flow to the involved limbs. Casualties were being triaged to intensive care units within 10 minutes of the accident. In response to the emergency, medics showed up from all different units. Fort Bragg's 44th Medical Brigade came out in full force, sending the staff of its on-site 28th Combat Support Hospital and 5th Surgical Hospital to help. Brigade and battalion surgeons of the 82nd Airborne Division volunteered their services, as did the medical personnel of all troop medical clinics which had closed down. Special Forces medics, who were trained to operate independently in smaller operations, assisted treatment teams by starting central lines and intubating patients, along with medics from Fort Bragg's Joint Special Operations Command, along with Army nursing students who had stepped up and started to help out. 300 volunteers had made their way to Womac to offer assistance. People worked together and everybody pitched in. Nobody argued. Rank was forgotten as everyone worked side by side to help out. There wasn't a job too small or too little for everybody there. Teamwork notwithstanding, the absence of two-way radios in the triage and emergency rooms made communicating with other parts of the hospital difficult. To get around this, supervisors visited the emergency room often. EOC and pharmacy personnel were stationed in the emergency areas as well. The ER staff relied on verbal contact to obtain supplies or to let the operating rooms or intensive care units know that patients were on their way to them. Despite the lack of radios, supplies were readily available upon request. The pharmacy also stationed teams in intensive care units, operating rooms, and wards to ensure medications got there. The triage and emergency room areas were cleared of patients within two hours and admitted to the next level of care. During those two hours, the hospitals treated and admitted 45 casualties, transported burned and traumatized patients to operating rooms, and moved burned but not traumatized soldiers to intensive care units. While the triaging was going well, the large number of patients slowed down the process of selecting people to be evacuated by air to burn centers or for retention at Womac for further stabilization. The departure of severely burned patients to the University of North Carolina's burn center at Chapel Hill was delayed. Which didn't delay treatment since each person was followed closely by a female physician, nurses, and medical attackers. Completed four ongoing operations within 15 minutes of the crash and canceled scheduled operations not yet started. As a result, four operating tables were available within 20 minutes of the crash, and all operating rooms were ready 30 minutes after that. At the time of the crash, the 28th Combat Support Hospital was setting up in the parking lot next to Womac to provide overflow operating room space since Womac's operating rooms were being renovated, which meant that all of the Combat Support Hospital staff was available to assist. Only a few of the injured would require immediate surgery that was dealt with quickly. To manage all who would need surgery later, additional operating rooms on the labor and delivery ward were opened up. During the night and into the next morning, surgeons performed 38 procedures on 16 patients in the operating rooms and more surgery on 13 patients in the wards. By 10 p.m., Womac Army Medical Center provided initial management to all of the accident victims. The 9 killed at the site and the two who died en route to the hospital were taken to the mort. The hospital treated and released 51 casualties and admitted 55, 25 to intensive care units and 30 to inpatient wards. Another 13 were transferred to regional hospitals. In total, the Green Ramp disaster caused 130 casualties. Hospital personnel, despite their best efforts, could not save everyone. At Lomac, one died about 30 minutes after the accident. Another died about 12 hours later. By March 26, the crash had claimed 10 more lives, 5 at Lomac and 5 at JC, for a total of 23 dead. This total would increase to 24 10 months later when the last victim passed away from his injuries. The follow-up investigation by the Air Force found that civilian and military air traffic controllers to be mostly at fault for the accident. The Air Force investigation found multiple causes for the mid-air collision, faulting air traffic control for the majority of them. Although the AF-16 pilot was partly to blame because he did not see and avoid the C-130 as required by Air Force regulations. The pilot testified that he did not see the C-130. However, after the control tower had made him aware of its presence, he began executing a low approach when the collision occurred. Two Air Force officers involved in the crash would be relieved of duty and transferred to other jobs. Three enlisted men were also disciplined. A later investigation would go on to state that pilot error by the F-16 pilot also contributed to the crash, but no disciplinary action was taken against them. And that was the Green Ramp Disaster. Thanks for listening. If you liked the show, please consider leaving a rating or review on your app of choice. And you can always reach out to the show at historiesadisaster at gmail.com with questions, comments, or suggestions. Well is following the show on social media, like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, whatever. And share the episode. Your friends will love it. And pet a penguin. Jump out of an airplane. Chase that dream. Live for today. Because tomorrow is never guaranteed. Thanks and goodbye.