Seven People Are Killed in Plane Crash in Afghanistan

[peyton]

Please say a prayer for the crew of the 747 that crashed on Bagram Airfield today. We were having bad weather, rain and high winds, the plane took off normally and then the wind blew the nose upward. Our bus driver saw the whole thing and he said "It looked like a rocket trying to fly straight up" and then it crashed. We were in our office and felt like we had an earthquake!
If there is a good side to this tragedy, it missed a motorpool full of soldiers 100 yards away. Plus it was only carrying cargo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/w...led-in-cargo-plane-crash-near-kabul.html?_r=0

 

[dcxplant]

It is possible the aircraft's load shifted, overpowering the flight controls.
Sad.

 

[armenius]

Just saw the video on Fox News.Nose Up like a homesick angel until it stalled.Unbelievable!Taken by smart phone.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

How terrible. I didn't hear about that. I hope you are doing OK out there. This cannot be reasuring. My son is at camp Leatherneck so I freaked a little when I saw this. I'm freaked and horribly sad anyway about it. Take care of yourself and THANK YOU.

 

[Damn Yankee]

Check this out.

Bagram Airfield Crash April 29th 2013 Dashcam footage - YouTube

 

[steveno]

I'm wondering if it was leaving with cargo on it and they didn't get the pallets locked down causing it to shift.

 

[Arik]

I just read on another board....someone who knows someone type of thing. They were transporting armor when one shifted

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[Mcwsky09]

I was told a story about an aircraft with on board water tanks that were left open overnight to drain but did not because the water inside has frozen solid. The person relating the story indicated that they had a serious problem (can't recall if it crashed) because the ice shifted. which doesn't quite add up for me and I suspect they got the story slightly wrong. I think he might have mentioned something about the difference in the weight of water vs ice.

A given volume of water when frozen doesn't weigh less - yes it is less dense - but the same weight. So in that case I suspect the real issue was either the additional weight of the ice/water in what was thought to be an empty tank was not accounted for and affected the total take off weight or weight distribution or the container was secured as if it were empty and the additional weight of the contents allowed it to break free during takeoff and then shift either causing direct damage or throwing the weight distribution off.

I have been on small planes where passengers have been asked to change seats for weight distribution.

I was on a flight recently were prior to boarding we were warned that for weight limit reasons they might not be able to board everyone with an assigned seat (but they did in the end).

Not sure on smaller planes - but on larger ones they have pumps that can redistribute fuel between wing tanks to maintain balance - and in one such case an improper fitting in the fuel system allowed fuel to leak and this was not noticed until the plane was halfway across the Atlantic when they ran out of fuel. They were able to glide to a safe landing on a small island on a runway not designed for a plane of that size.

It is sometimes astonishing that airplanes are able to do what they do without constant catastrophic failures. I think it may have been someone in the space program that said something along the lines of "for this to work 1,000s of things need to go right, but for it to fail only 1 thing needs to go wrong"

 

[M29since14]

That was really awful. No chance to recover from that incident, whatever caused it.

 

[ladder13]

Prayers for those killed and the loved ones they left behind.

 

[Mickey D]

I Just got this from a friend in the business.



The accident was witnessed by a number of us on the ground. The National Air Cargo 747-400 took off and as is fairly usual with these crews entered a steeper than 'normal' climb.. this is often done here and referred to as a tactical departure.. we perform them so as to avoid close proximity to any ground based insurgents.. The pitch angle of the a/c was seen to increase beyond even what we normally witness until it could only be described as extreme.. the left wing was then seen to dip slightly before the role was countered followed by a role to the right causing the right wing to drop. The a/c appeared to be fully stalled with a wing drop at between 1000 and 1200 feet agl. The a/c then descended with the nose dropping and right wing low as it disappeared from view at a very low altitude. It's unlikely that the nose had any significant pitch down attitude at the time of impact. The a/c crashed within the confines of the airfield close to holding point Alfa.
The above is accurate and witnessed by most of our people on the ramp so can be easily verified. There was no insurgent activity and although the weather here is currently unstable with considerable thunderstorm activity the weather was not a factor in the accident. At the time of the crash there was no verticle activity close to the airport and the wind was moderate and steady.. we had landed shortly before with the wind at 090/14. (R03)
We have heard from airport sources that there were 8 people on board made up of the flight crew and load-masters.. I can't confirm this.. It has also been reported that a communication from the flightcrew shortly after take-off stated that they were having control problems. I can't confirm this either but it does seem possible.
The appearance of the flight profile did suggest that either a miscaculation had been made regarding the loading CofG/Weight or that part of the cargo had shifted during rotation. I'm stating this only to help describe the sequence of events as seen from the ground and not speculating.

 

[Alnamvet68]

After reviewing the video many times, I cannot help consider the possibility of what some of us would call an "elastic collision." In essence, I am of the opinion that whatever heavy cargo the aircraft was carrying was improperly secured, and upon take off, it shifted aft at such a speed causing the 747 to over rotate, putting itself at a too steep ascent angle, lose speed and not able to achieve an altitude from which they could have recovered from.

 

[Cyrano]

I have been on small planes where passengers have been asked to change seats for weight distribution.

They'd have to put me near the center of gravity.

 

[peyton]

I got some more information. The 747 was carrying Mine Resistant Personnel Carriers that the soldiers ride around in and they are very heavy. Another fact that I did not mention earlier is the weather Monday was terrible, rain, high winds and the wind direction and speeds were shifting. In spite of the losses we were very lucky, the plane narrowly missed a motor pool full of soldiers and the "Burn Pit" facility that has workers living there as well. You can see the buildings in the background.

Representatives from National Cargo were here at Bagram Airfield yesterday and I happened to walk by them as they pulled up in a truck and were getting out of it. I said to them "I am sorry for your losses, your workers died serving our country" They thanked me, and went inside the building to discuss the crash and investigation.