National Air Cargo 744 down at Bagram

knucklehead6

http://avherald.com/h?article=46183bb4&opt=0

A National Air Cargo Boeing 747-400 on behalf of US Mobility Command, registration N949CA performing a cargo flight from Bagram (Afghanistan) to an unknown destination, has crashed shortly after takeoff from Bagram Air Base's runway 03 at 15:30L (11:00Z) and erupted into flames near the end of the runway with the perimeter of the Air Base. All 8 crew are reported perished in the crash.

Afghan Authorities immediately denied claims that the crash of a large civilian cargo aircraft was the result of enemy activities. A large fire erupted after the aircraft impacted ground, it appears all crew have been killed.

Coalition Forces reported a civilian large cargo planed crashed shortly after takeoff, at the time of the accident there was no enemy activity around the aerodrome. Rescue and Recovery efforts are under way, the Air Base is currently locked down and the aerodrome is closed.

National Air Cargo confirmed one of their aircraft with 8 crew crashed at Bagram.

Several observers on the ground reported the National Air Cargo Boeing 747-400 had just lifted off and was climbing through approximately 1200 feet when it's nose sharply rose, the aircraft appeared to have stalled and came down erupting in a blaze.

According to a listener on frequency the crew reported the aircraft stalled due to a possible load shift.

National Air Cargo operates three Boeing 747-400s with the registrations N952CA, N919CA and N949CA. N949CA operated into Afghanistan yesterday (Apr 28th).

Metars (of Kabul 22nm south of Bagram, no Metars for OAIX available):
OAKB 291350Z 18004KT 7000 BKN050 13/04 Q1016 NOSIG RMK BLU BLU
OAKB 291250Z 30007KT 9999 SCT040CB BKN060 15/01 Q1015 NOSIG RMK BLU BLU
OAKB 291150Z 10017G27KT 9999 VCTS SCT090CB BKN120 16/06 Q1013 NOSIG RMK BLU BLU
OAKB 291050Z 11020G30KT 9999 SCT090 OVC120 16/05 Q1012 NOSIG RMK BLU BLU
OAKB 290950Z 10020G30KT 9999 SCT080CB 17/06 Q1012 NOSIG RMK BLU+ BLU+
OAKB 290850Z 10025G42KT 9999 FEW060CB SCT070 17/05 Q1013 NOSIG RMK BLU+ BLU+
OAKB 290750Z 11020G30KT 9999 BKN060 17/06 Q1014 NOSIG RMK BLU BLU
OAKB 290650Z 10017KT 9999 FEW050 BKN060 16/05 Q1015 NOSIG RMK BLU BLU

Smoke plume rising from the crash site (Photo: Albert Ramirez):

donvito99

A lad in the comments section said that his brother was a part of the crew, and that his mother had been informed of her son's death. RIP

knucklehead6

donvito99 wrote: »

A lad in the comments section said that his brother was a part of the crew, and that his mother had been informed of her son's death. RIP

Saw that... really smacks home when you see something like that.

N7777G

This is the aircraft involved in the crash - it had been painted at Dublin in September 2010

http://flic.kr/p/8NEmDR

My thoughts are with their families, RIP.

phonypony

Not a single mention of this in the media in this part of the world. Given all the coverage in the past weeks of the 787 return to service with some organisations practically tracking the first flight, I find it odd.

Suasdaguna1

Someone alluded to a load shift. I can tell you from first hand experience it's horrific to deal with. I was on a 737 200 freighter years ago hauling a spare engine which shifted on rotation. It took full stick forward, followed by the engineers to get the engine back in position.

God love those poor guys that perished today.

Razor44

Jesus, RIP. never nice to hear. the story is being covered on the Journal.ie, thats why i popped on here to see if anyone knew anymore

cson

http://www.thejournal.ie/syria-russia-missile-passenger-plane-889888-Apr2013/

This was on The Journal too.

Holy **** I can only imagine what it was like trying pilot around SAMs. Commercial aircraft aren't exactly the most agile. :eek:

Tenger

phonypony wrote: »

Not a single mention of this in the media in this part of the world. Given all the coverage in the past weeks of the 787 return to service with some organisations practically tracking the first flight, I find it odd.

Sadly it the way the media works.....anything related to Iraq and Afghanistan is seen as old news and not attention grabbing for the media hounds who want sales....



I am acquainted with a couple of guys who have done some flying in that part of the world recently.....RIP to this crew

martinsvi

cson wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/syria-russia-missile-passenger-plane-889888-Apr2013/

This was on The Journal too.

Holy **** I can only imagine what it was like trying pilot around SAMs. Commercial aircraft aren't exactly the most agile. :eek:

how on earth do you spot a SAM coming at you from a cockpit seat and how do you manage to escape it? Missiles that can reach 10km don't usually miss (x2!!!)!

seven_eleven

Holy christ almighty!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ9iLyZPr08

knucklehead6

seven_eleven wrote: »

Holy christ almighty!

Jesus.... RIP

John_Mc

That is absolutely incredible. Not very often you get to see a full stall in a 747. RIP to those onboard

phonypony

Awful. RIP.

shedweller

That's going to be one of those infamous youtube videos.
RIP to those poor unfortunates.

H3llR4iser

shedweller wrote: »

That's going to be one of those infamous youtube videos.
RIP to those poor unfortunates.

The worst thing is that there are already people shouting "fake!". It's gonna be the bane of this century, the "fake!" crowd.

The video is actually really, really spooky. Seeing a 744 coming down like a paper airplane in what looks like a wing stall is quite horrific. RIP to the crew

andy_g

RIP to the crew it definatley looks like a weight shift to the aft and then followed by a tip stall.

shedweller

andy_g wrote: »

tip stall.

Is that where it tipped to one side then the other? Thats from the pilot trying to level the plane, right?
Apart from the obvious vertical velocity being quite high, it did look as though the pilot levelled the plane but unfortunately they ran out of altitude before they could gain any horizontal velocity. Another 1000 feet and they might have survived a very hard crash landing. I emphasise the word "might"
Apologies for my non aviation terminology.

Razor44

Holy S**T, thats shocking to watch....hart goes out to them

artanevilla

shedweller wrote: »

Is that where it tipped to one side then the other? Thats from the pilot trying to level the plane, right?
Apart from the obvious vertical velocity being quite high, it did look as though the pilot levelled the plane but unfortunately they ran out of altitude before they could gain any horizontal velocity. Another 1000 feet and they might have survived a very hard crash landing. I emphasise the word "might"
Apologies for my non aviation terminology.

It's where the tip of the wing stalls before the rest of it. It is more dangerous to stall at the tip due to the fact that it causes the plane to go into a spin as can be seen in the vid.

Wings are actually designed with a twist so that if a stall does occur it happens at the root first rather than the tip, which is much safer.

sparrowcar

Shocking viewing. RIP

donvito99

Christ almighty, that was terrifying to watch.

Shamrock231

Sweet Baby Jesus, that video is something else... RIP to the crew.

Wise Old Elf

Terrifying video. RIP to those involved. Amazing/shocking seeing something that big stall and fall flat like that.

donvito99

That's an amazingly unique piece of footage. We've had two crashed caught on camera this year. Technology is amazing, but it makes it all the more tragic in this instance.

knucklehead6

donvito99 wrote: »

That's an amazingly unique piece of footage. We've had two crashed caught on camera this year. Technology is amazing, but it makes it all the more tragic in this instance.

what was the other one?

Shamrock231

donvito99 wrote: »

That's an amazingly unique piece of footage. We've had two crashed caught on camera this year. Technology is amazing, but it makes it all the more tragic in this instance.

Remind me what was the first?

donvito99

The Russian Tu-204(?) that crashed into a motorway.

knucklehead6

donvito99 wrote: »

The Russian Tu-204(?) that crashed into a motorway.

oh yeah... good call

if that phrase is applicable in these cases.

Shamrock231

donvito99 wrote: »

The Russian Tu-204(?) that crashed into a motorway.

Ah, of course.

Drummerboy08

donvito99 wrote: »

That's an amazingly unique piece of footage. We've had two crashed caught on camera this year. Technology is amazing, but it makes it all the more tragic in this instance.

I watched it and instantly wondered what went through the minds of the crew in that last ten seconds.

Scary stuff.

APM

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

I watched it and instantly wondered what went through the minds of the crew in that last ten seconds.

Scary stuff.

I'm pretty sure they were all fully consumed in trying to recover the aircraft to have time to think about anything else....hopefully that was the case anyway

Merch

artanevilla wrote: »

It's where the tip of the wing stalls before the rest of it. It is more dangerous to stall at the tip due to the fact that it causes the plane to go into a spin as can be seen in the vid.

Wings are actually designed with a twist so that if a stall does occur it happens at the root first rather than the tip, which is much safer.

Horrific to look at

I dont think the wings are designed with a twist to prevent stall, is it?, they are designed for an optimum distribution of lift as the thickness varies due to the difference in dimensions at the root and tips.

Stall is prevented by a number of things, namely I think by operating within a certain set of parameters, and I suppose by haveing an aerodynamically stable design.
if that is some heavy load inside the aircraft shifting, its horrific to see what see what being outside the limits for centre of gravity can do.

It reminds me of a takeoff of another airliner (shown on air accident investigation programme) where they took off without the flaps extended/set for takeoff.

Just frightening to watch.

My bad, one is the other,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_twist
I always thought was for an even distribution of lift across the entire wing to limit structural stresses, maybe I was rotary influenced

james142

Rip to the 7 crew on board. But why is this no where on the news? Surpirsed as the crew where American..

lanyard

I was thinking if the cargo snapped from it's lashings, even if the pilot had enough altitude to perform a dive to recover from the stall, the dive would have sent the cargo forward causing a irreversable nose dive to the ground.

coolbond

incredible video,RIP to the crew

Jocry

Having spent so much time around the airport watching planes take off and land I've wondered what something like this would look like but more so what my reaction would be if it did. I never thought I would actually see it happen, my heart sank and my gut turned. So surreal seeing such a big bird drop like that RIP to all those on board and to their families!

andy_g

artanevilla wrote: »

It's where the tip of the wing stalls before the rest of it. It is more dangerous to stall at the tip due to the fact that it causes the plane to go into a spin as can be seen in the vid.

Wings are actually designed with a twist so that if a stall does occur it happens at the root first rather than the tip, which is much safer.

Thanks for getting that for me as i was out just back from diving,

You have practically summed up a tip stall

Scone190

Shocking viewing ! R.I.P to all . As its been said before just so scary watching it and seeing a 747 just stalling like that and then just disintegrating . My thoughts are with the family's of the crew involved.

Oblomov

The report reads as : aircraft stalled due to a possible load shift.

Until the official report it's guess work.

The reason so little media coverage,reduces the possible claims and and any form of credits to the terrorists.

If its not in the news, they can't yell and shout about it.

The automatic controls react so quickly it's very difficult and completely inaccurate to assume.

pclancy

I actually feel sick after watching that.

Suasdaguna1

Ehh it's not in the news as it was a freighter, just like the LH md11 that broke its back in the desert. Once there's no pax, no one gives a sh!t except those in the aviation community.

Kills me watching it.

intellectual dosser

Truly horrifying - I've watched it twice and both times I've wondered how the guy in the vehicle doesn't react with complete hysteria.

BuffyBot

Seems to be military, so being based where they are, hysteria generally isn't overly helpful.

Tropheus

Shocking to watch. My stomach sank. RIP to the crew.

lomb

A very unusual video. What would the odds of a dash cam being on a vehicle (Ie not a plane spotter) at that exact time in the Middle East? It puts into context the power of these things when something goes wrong.Rip to the crew members.

artanevilla

lomb wrote: »

A very unusual video. What would the odds of a dash cam being on a vehicle (Ie not a plane spotter) at that exact time in the Middle East? It puts into context the power of these things when something goes wrong.Rip to the crew members.

The guy sounds Western, I'd say its common among them for security reasons, if it not a military vehicle.

As for being there, its beside an airport so it'd be heavy with military/western traffic in that part of the world.

intellectual dosser

BuffyBot wrote: »

Seems to be military, so being based where they are, hysteria generally isn't overly helpful.

Maybe Hysteria was the wrong word to use.

Sitting in the vehicle I dont know how he said nothing at all to himself, aside for the "fcuk" after about 30 seconds.

Davidth88

jesus christ , just seen that video , unreal !!!!

That is really scary

seven_eleven

intellectual dosser wrote: »

Truly horrifying - I've watched it twice and both times I've wondered how the guy in the vehicle doesn't react with complete hysteria.

BuffyBot wrote: »

Seems to be military, so being based where they are, hysteria generally isn't overly helpful.

intellectual dosser wrote: »

Maybe Hysteria was the wrong word to use.

Sitting in the vehicle I dont know how he said nothing at all to himself, aside for the "fcuk" after about 30 seconds.

The video seems to be recorded by a third party. Usually what happens is they take the video back to the office or wherever, slap it into the video player and then they record it with a camera on the screen they're watching.

Sounds weird I know but it happens a lot. I suspect the explosion would have been much much louder, or even the sounds of the car driving. Considering how loud and clear the dog/animal sounded when it yelped.

thedarksh1te

Absolutely chilling video! Rip to those involved. Aparently this is the plane involved