Second Kalitta Air 747 Freighter Crashes

By Vivian Sequera, Associated Press Writer

08 July 2008


Rescue workers inspect the wreckage of a Boeing 747 that crashed in Madrid, near
Bogota, Monday, July 7, 2008.

The cargo plane fell after taking off from Bogota’s airport with a load of flowers
on route to Miami. The eight crew members survived but two people who lived on
the ranch where the plane crashed were killed.

 

Rescue workers inspect the wreckage of a Boeing 747 that crashed in Madrid, near
Bogota, Monday, July 7, 2008. The cargo plane fell after taking off from Bogota’s
airport with a load of flowers on route to Miami. The eight crew members survived
but two people who lived on the ranch where the plane crashed were killed. Credit:
AP Photo/William Fernando Martinez
None of the plane’s eight U.S. crew members were reported dead, although a hospital
director said one was in serious condition. It was the second time in six weeks
that a Boeing 747 flown by Ypsilanti, Michigan-based Kalitta Air has crashed.

U.S. investigators were en route to Colombia to assist in a government inquiry
into the cause of the crash, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said.

The plane’s crew told air traffic controllers early Monday that one of its engines
had caught fire and radio contact was lost seconds later, said Donald Tascon,
deputy director of Colombia’s civil aviation agency.

At 3:50 am (4:50 a.m. EDT; 0850 GMT), the jet attempted an emergency landing
and crashed onto a ranch about 15 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of Bogota, said
aviation officials and Diego Humberto Sicard, mayor of Madrid, the small village
hit.

747 broke apart during landing

The plane split apart and its tail smashed into a ranch home, killing Pedro Suarez,
50, and his 13-year-old son Edwin, according to the mayor and aviation official
Tascon.

The plane had stopped in Bogota to pick up flowers — one of Colombia’s biggest
exports — and was scheduled to land in Miami, Kalitta Air Vice President Pete
Sanderlin said.

“All of the crew on board had various injuries, from slight to more serious,”
he told The Associated Press.

Two crew members were treated at a Madrid hospital, while six others were sent
to the Central Police Hospital in Bogota. One, identified as Joseph Kendall, had
his spleen removed and was recuperating, hospital director Col. Nader Lujan told
reporters.

Kalitta had been operating the plane for another airline, Centurion Air Cargo,
Sanderlin said. A woman who answered the phone at Centurion’s office in Miami
referred questions to Kalitta.

Five investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB,
will join other Americans from the Federal Aviation Administration, aircraft-maker
Boeing Co. and engine-maker Pratt & Whitney in assisting the Colombian probe,
NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said from Washington. Pratt & Whitney is a unit
of United Technologies Corp.

Another Kalitta-operated Boeing 747 crashed and broke apart in Brussels, Belgium,
on May 25 as pilots tried to abort a takeoff, U.S. and Belgian authorities have
said. All five crew members survived that incident, too, although four were slightly
injured.

The crash also marked the second time two days that a cargo line based at Willow
Run Airport near Ypsilanti has crashed in Latin America.

A DC-9-15 freighter operated by USA Jet Airlines crashed early Sunday while nearing
the airport in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. The pilot of the plane, 46-year-old Lon McIntosh
of Middletown, Ohio, died, according to his family and Mexican officials.

Associated Press writers Sarah Larimer in Miami and David N. Goodman in Detroit
contributed to this report.

http://www.aviation.com/safety/080708-ap-second-kalitta-747f-crash.html

 

U.S. 747 Freighter Crashes at Brussels

By Constant Brand, Associated Press Writer

25th May 2008

 

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — A large cargo plane crashed at the end of a runway and
split in two while trying to take off Sunday at Brussels airport, authorities
said.

Four of the five crew members on board the Boeing 747 were slightly injured and
were hospitalized, said Jan Van der Cruysse, spokesman at Brussels Airport.

“The plane is very seriously damaged,” he said. The aircraft cracked in two after
it crashed at the end of runway 22, which lies very close to a rail line and houses.

Rail services to and from the airport were suspended as a safety precaution,
however the crash did not affect other flights at the airport, Van der Cruysse
said.

Francis Vermeiren, mayor of the nearby town of Zaventem, said the plane did not
catch on fire when it crashed after attempting to take off. Vermeiren was coordinating
rescue efforts at the airport.

“The plane is not on fire but it has split into two,” he told VRT radio.

Firefighters coated the wings of the plane with special fire retardant foam as
a precaution because the plane was still full of jet fuel, the mayor said.

He said the plane was on a scheduled flight to Bahrain. It was not known what
cargo the plane was carrying.

Vermeiren said the pilot told rescue authorities he heard a large noise while
trying to take off just after midday. It was not yet clear what caused the crash.

The plane is owned by Kalitta Air, a cargo carrier based at Willow Run Airport
near Ypsilanti, Michigan, and makes regular flights from Brussels, officials said.
A person who answered the telephone at Kalitta Air said Sunday morning that no
one was immediately available to comment.

http://www.aviation.com/safety/080525-ap-kalitta-air-747f-crash.html