What we know so far about Scott Air Force Base's role in the fatal refueling crash in Iraq80%
By Katie Grawitch0%
3/13/2026, 7:34:56 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 9 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Availability Heuristic, and Appeal to Emotion, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 18.7% saturation with 79 hits. Analysis detected 321 faulty-reasoning hits from 423 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 70.9% and a BS Rank of 80% (4,564 of 21,886 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 79.20% of the article peer group.
Six crew members died after a U.S. refueling plane crashed in Iraq on Thursday.
The U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base in the Metro East oversees the refueling operations for the Air Force.
But no information has been released about whether the mission came from Scott.
The identities of the deceased service members are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified.
U.S. Central Command stated that the crash involving two planes happened in friendly airspace and was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.
Central Command confirmed the second plane landed safely and said an investigation has begun.
All six deceased crew members were on board a KC-135 refueling aircraft used for routine mid-air refueling missions.
Retired Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, former TRANSCOM commander, recently told "St. Louis on the Air" that the missions are an essential part of Air Force operations in the Middle East.
She said TRANSCOM has coordinated the refueling of hundreds of aircraft leading up to the strikes on Iran.
“They cannot do that without air refueling,” Van Ovost said.
“So, we work together with planners to map out their route and provide fuel along the way — both there and back multiple times.”
Van Ovost said as many as a dozen air refueling aircraft operated by Air Mobility Command, also based at Scott, could be used on those missions.
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth talked about the crash in a press briefing on Friday.
“I ask that we remember our fallen and those participating in the recovery operations,” Caine said.
“Those are very, very, very tough days when that (casualty-notification) knock comes on the door — for people on both sides of the door.”
Hegseth said: “American heroes, all of them.
And their sacrifice will only recommit us to resolve this mission.”
NPR News reported the crash brings the U.S. military death toll to 13, with eight U.S. soldiers severely injured, in the war against Iran, according to the Pentagon.
Iranian and Lebanese health officials reported more than 1,300 people killed in Iran and 773 in Lebanon.
Israeli authorities said 12 civilians have died in the country as well as two Israeli soldiers in Lebanon.
NPR News estimates the total number of people displaced by the war has reached the millions.
Hegseth said Friday marks the highest number of strikes against Iran since the war started on Feb. 28.
Some information in this story was provided by NPR.
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