Part of US military Boeing C-17 plane 'falls off' mid-flight 'landing into car park' after aircraft 'experienced a snag'

A part of a Boeing C-17 fell off during a flight and landed in a car park of a church in South Carolina, according to FL360aero on X, formerly Twitter. The site said that the Joint Base Charleston C-17 Globemaster III landed safely Thursday (12 September) after it “experienced a snag during a flight and lost a composite material part from the empennage section.”

The site added: “The part also known as the ‘Aft radome’, was found in the Divine Redeemer Catholic School and Church parking lot in Hanahan. It's to be noted that the C-17 was originally a McDonnell Douglas aircraft before they merged with Boeing in 1997.”

The tail cone fell out of the sky at around 4pm. Joint Base Charleston, located in South Carolina, told Newsweek: “The crew of the C-17 notified Joint Base Charleston and returned to base after a piece of the tail cone fell off during flight. A team recovered the piece of the aircraft and no injuries or property damage were reported." An investigation into the incident is now underway.

It comes as Boeing is currently facing multiple lawsuits after a faulty door panel blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX plane midflight in January. Several passengers were injured in the incident and all 737 MAX 9s were grounded as a result. It was later found that the door lacked the bolts to secure the door plugs.