Memorial for victims of cargo jet crash held in
Broadcast News
The Oct. 14 crash of an MK airlines jet claimed the lives of all seven crew members on board.
All of the crew lived in either
For
She says that's partly because the RCMP have found her husband's wedding ring.
She says it's a treasured reminder of the calming man she loved and lost.
But she also says there's still intense grief among the family members.
And she's hoping for a thorough investigation into the cause of the crash.
© Broadcast News 2004
Throttle set incorrectly in jet that crashed in N.S.
-- lead investigator
Source: The Canadian Press
By Michael Tutton
HALIFAX (CP) _ A cargo jet crash in
``We have not found anything technically or mechanically that we see would have contributed,'' said Bill Fowler, the lead investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
``That leaves us with, `How this situation could have taken place with this crew?'''
Fowler's comments came Thursday after he attended a sombre memorial service in
The Boeing 747 jet crashed on takeoff at
Fowler said the focus is now on the incorrectly set throttle. The setting, which is done by hand, was too low to deliver the power needed for the 350,700 kilogram cargo plane to lift off, he said.
``The power wasn't set properly,'' said Fowler.
``There are a number of defences built in to any system to make sure that this sort of thing wouldn't happen. What we're doing is analysing each aspect of the tasks they had to go through.
``Are the procedures valid? Are the checks and balances appropriate?''
Those procedures are a matter of air crew checking and cross-checking settings.
There are also warning systems in newer aircraft to avoid incorrect power settings, but the MK jet didn't have these systems, explained Fowler.
At least one widow made clear during her visit to
``If they look at human error as a possibility, then the next question will be, `Why was it human error?' It was a very, very experienced crew. It was one of the most experienced crews that worked for MK. You just don't make mistakes like that,'' said Joanne Buckley-Lamb, the widow of David Lamb, a pilot on the flight.
Fowler said he has just returned from
He said it was too early to come to any conclusions on whether fatigue may have been a factor.
The crew was using a system known as ``heavy crewing,'' where one crew flies the aircraft while the other rests on board.
Mike Kruger, the chief executive of MK Airlines, said it's premature to comment on what might have led to an incorrect setting, or whether fatigue played a role.
``Trying to create supposition as to what is normal or not isn't helpful,'' he said.
``It's speculative. . . . The fact is they were on duty for 12 hours and 40 minutes, which is within the regulatory requirements. . . . So I leave that to the investigatory board to comment on.''
Asked if he's changed working hours since the accident, Kruger said ``certain aspects have been reviewed'' but wouldn't elaborate.
Fowler said looking at working conditions was ``part of the
reason for going to
``We still have more analysis to do on (rest periods). We want to look at this flight and this crew in detail. There's a significant amount of work to do in these circumstances.''
Families were flown to
About 30 people gathered for a ceremony that included taking home a small rock as a remembrance of the site where the plane crashed.
They didn't offer any comment as they filed out of the funeral home.
The dead Britons were Capt. Michael Thornycroft,
a resident of
Also killed were ground engineer Mario Zahn,
a German who lived in
Memorial services have also been held in
Pilot's widow gets husband's ring back, but questions
about 747 crash linger
Source: The Canadian Press
By Michael Tutton
HALIFAX (CP) Joanne Buckley-Lamb wore her husband's wedding ring Wednesday, a treasured reminder of the man she loved and lost.
But the return of the pilot's ring retrieved from the charred wreckage of
a 747 cargo jet that crashed in
``It's very personal. It's part of Dave. It's part of myself. It's part of what we
were,'' said Buckley-Lamb, a resident of
The ring, a band of white gold, was made in
On Wednesday, the ring was handed to Buckley-Lamb by an RCMP officer who worked to find the band and identify it.
Buckley-Lamb said that when she put the ring on her finger, she finally felt the reality of her husband's death.
``The ring is a symbol, but it's not what you want,'' she said in an interview.
She said she still has questions about why her husband and
six fellow crew members died near
What is known is that an MK Airlines jet failed to gain altitude in the pre-dawn sky, struck a berm at the end of a runway and plunged into nearby woodlands, bursting into flames.
Initially, there were concerns the aircraft was too heavy for takeoff. But information from the jet's flight data recorder indicated that wasn't the case.
Since then, investigators have been in
Buckley-Lamb said she hopes the Transportation Safety Board of Canada will look into working conditions as part of its investigation.
``If they look at human error as a possibility, then the next question will be, `Why was it human error?' It was a very, very experienced crew. It was one of the most experienced crews that worked for MK. You just don't make mistakes like that.''
Buckley-Lamb said she remembers her husband as a man who had a ``very, very calming nature.
``There was never really a problem. You could always make a plan and there wasn't a problem. He was exceptionally thorough. He was very, very professional when it came to flying.''
The others killed in the crash were Capt. Michael Thornycroft, a resident of
Also killed were ground engineer Mario Zahn,
a German who lived in
About 32 family members, along with representatives from MK Airlines, were expected to attend the memorial service. Some were also expected to visit the crash site.
Buckley-Lamb said the service will bring ``some closure,'' as did the ring. But the results of the investigation remain crucial to her.
``I'm still asking the question, `Why?' I'll be asking that
forever,'' she said.
© 2004 The Canadian Press
N.S. workers erect Christmas tree at site of fatal
cargo jet crash
Fri Dec 17,
KEITH BONNELL
HALIFAX (CP) - On a small clearing overlooking the shattered tail section of a Boeing 747, a fully decorated Christmas tree teeters in the wind.
Topped by an angel, the evergreen was erected this week as a
tribute to the seven crew members who were killed in October when their MK
Airlines jet crashed just beyond a runway at
The jet's huge tail snapped off when the aircraft struck a berm and crashed through the nearby woods in a ball of fire.
"We figured the guys who perished didn't have a Christmas this year, so we thought we'd give them a Christmas," said Rob McCullough, the senior project manager on the crash site.
The workers have been toiling for weeks to clean up the debris strewn throughout the woods.
Members of the media were allowed to tour the site Friday, a
day after family members of the crew - who were from
"They had enough bad memories. We wanted to give them a good memory," said McCullough. "It sort of gave closure to us on site as well."
An inspector with the Transportation Safety Board has said the crash was probably caused by an improper throttle setting made by a member of the crew.
Planes taking off from the airport Friday roared over the site, following the path the downed jet would have taken had it cleared the ground.
A pungent smell hangs in the air - a mix of jet fuel and rotting lobster and fish that was part of the cargo.
"Up to two days ago, you had to wear ventilators to be here," said McCullough.
It's expected to take months to clean up all the oil, and barriers have been put in place to keep it from spreading too far.
On Friday, the workers were given counselling and allowed to take the rest of the day off.
"It's a job, but I think everyone that's involved gets a personal attachment to what they're doing," said Jason Bernier, a project engineer, who was one of the workers to attend a special ceremony Thursday night with the families of the crew members.
He said the families thanked the 25 to 30 workers for their efforts.
"It's really in our hearts, sort of the least we could do," he said.
Muddy roads wind through the site and charred earth near a rock quarry where major portions of the plane came to rest.
Most of the debris has been cleared away, but the tail section was moved closer to the main cleanup site and left visible, so the families could see some tangible evidence of the crash.
Small pieces of the plane were engraved and given to the family members at their request.
The workers asked the families for permission to put up the Christmas tree, an evergreen decorated with silver and gold bulbs and trimmed with a string beads and miniature lights.
Each of the families was presented with a small porcelain angel at the site. A few of the angels were left behind, and lay resting on colourful flower wreaths that stand out against the grey rock.
McCullough said that according to the beliefs of the families, the site where their loved ones died is now sacred.
"We put a guardian angel on top (of the Christmas tree) with the idea that we'd take care of their loved ones until they got here."
McCullough said the tree lights were expected to remain on for several weeks.
"We promised them we'd leave the tree lit."
Fatigue possible factor in crash, paper says
By ANDRÉ PICARD
With a report from Associated Press
UPDATED AT
Fatigue may have been a major factor in the crash of a cargo
plane that killed seven people in
The Times of London said Canadian investigators believe the pilot of the ill-fated Boeing 747 selected the wrong engine power setting during takeoff because he was exhausted.
The crew's schedule required them to crisscross the
The lack of thrust left the pilot unable to get airborne quickly and safely. The tail of the plane clipped a small hill and crashed into the ground, exploding into flames just beyond the airport on Oct. 14.
Yesterday, John Cottreau, a spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said the report in the Times was speculative.
"The investigation is at too early a stage to start assigning causes or identifying contributing factors.
"The investigation is covering all aspects of the cargo flight by MK Airlines. Our analysis of all possible factors is . . . ongoing."
MK Airlines, which is based in
The newspaper said 24-hour schedules are not permitted in
But Mike Kruger, the founder of MK Airlines, told The Times
that
Seven crew members were killed in last month's crash; four
Britons, a German and two Zimbabweans. It was the airline's fourth crash since
it was founded in 1990. The three previous crashes all occurred in
Earlier media reports suggested that the crash may have been caused by a sudden shift in cargo, or overloading of the plane.
Bill Fowler, the principal investigator at the Transportation Safety Board, said earlier that many things can cause the tail of a plane to strike the ground during takeoff, including engine failure, lack of thrust, overload and cargo shift.
Mr. Fowler was interviewed for The Times article but he was not quoted as saying fatigue was a factor. That suggestion was unattributed.
© 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Crew flew on 24-hour schedule
Fatigue probed in crash
By CP
MK Airlines is based in
The Times said Canadian investigators believe fatigue may have caused the pilot to select the wrong engine power setting during takeoff, which means the freight plane would not have had enough thrust to get airborne.
However, the newspaper does not quote a source from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada on the theory that fatigue might have been a factor in the crash.
Seven crew members were killed in last month's crash; four
Britons, a German and two Zimbabweans. It was the airline's fourth crash since
it was founded in 1990. The three previous crashes all occurred in
Mike Kruger, founder of MK Airlines, is quoted by the Times
as saying that
Since the crash, he said, the airline has stopped operating
with 24-hour schedules and is co-operating with Canadian investigators to get
to the bottom of what happened in
"I would not put my initials on the plane if I had something to hide," Kruger told the Times. "We are not proud of what's happened. There's been an element of bad luck, but we want to learn from this."
Kruger said it was possible the plane was overloaded, but that would have been the responsibility of the airline's handling agent.
Last week, the lead investigator for the safety board said it was theoretically possible the plane was slightly overweight, but the amount almost certainly wouldn't have prevented the jet from taking off.
Searchers comb through wreckage at the crash site of
MK Airlines' Flight 1602 at the
Finding the answers behind the accident
By BILL FOWLER
EACH YEAR, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada
collects data on approximately 3,000 incidents and accidents. But only those
with the greatest potential to advance the public interest are fully
investigated. The Oct. 14 crash of MK Airlines' Flight 1602, a Boeing 747-200,
at the
Many questions surround this tragedy. For the TSB, three are paramount: What happened? How did it happen? How can we prevent a similar accident from happening again?
Public interest and well-being demand answers and we're
determined to find them. Only by doing so can the TSB advance transportation
safety in
As such, our mission is clear: gather the facts, perform a
thorough analysis and present our findings. Furthermore, in accordance with our
mandate, we will conduct these activities independently and at arm's length
from government agencies such as Transport
The TSB's response to this accident illustrates perfectly our mission and mandate in action.
The initial field phase of this investigation saw an expert
team of operational, airworthiness and human performance specialists arrive in
The second stage, or post-field phase, leads the
investigation team back to our engineering lab in
The third and final stage is called the report production phase. This involves the drafting of a report, which is sent in confidence to the parties involved for their review to ensure the report's accuracy and procedural fairness. Once the board approves the final report, it is released to the public.
Although some may hope, even expect, that the TSB investigation will identify a single cause, the determining causes and contributing factors are often far more complex. Accidents, by their very nature, are a confluence of factors and we understand the natural inclination to rush to judgment.
Instead, our aim is to gain an in-depth understanding of the occurrence and underlying factors and, in turn, recommend ways to address any safety deficiencies to regulators, manufacturers and operators.
Achieving this objective demands a thorough approach. Therefore, significant investments in time and resources may be required to examine all factors that may have caused or contributed to this accident, including human and technical factors, policies and procedures, environment and culture.
It is important to note that the TSB does not only rely on its final report to reveal areas where transportation safety can be advanced. Instead, whenever safety deficiencies are confirmed or suspected, the TSB will advise the appropriate person or authority as soon as possible so the problem can be corrected.
This has already been the case during this investigation, as
two safety issues have been identified. Although it was not known if or to what
degree these issues played a role in the accident, to mitigate risk of these
deficiencies for future flights, the TSB issued two safety advisories to
Transport
One advisory raised concern about the management of loads
for cargo flights. For several reasons, the actual weight of the built-up load
was not measured in
The other advisory notified Transport
The same spirit of support was clearly evident during the field phase of the investigation into the MK Airlines accident. The TSB benefited greatly from the co-operation among local authorities and emergency responders, including the Halifax Airport Fire Service, the Halifax Regional Fire Service, the RCMP, the Halifax International Airport Authority, the Halifax Regional Police, Halifax Ground Search and Rescue, the Canadian Forces, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia Emergency Health Services, and local contractors who were able to supply heavy equipment and other needed goods and services on short notice.
Such co-operation will help to ensure the safety impact of this investigation is optimized.
The TSB's purpose is to advance transportation safety. It is for this reason we are determined to find out what happened to the MK Airlines 747 cargo jet, how it happened, and how we can prevent a similar accident from happening again.
Bill Fowler is investigator in charge, Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Copyright © 2004 The
One airline, 4 crashes, 8 dead: the real price of
sugar snap peas in November
By Ben Webster , Transport
Correspondent, and Jan Raath in
Times Online
THE drive to provide cheap produce for the nation’s dinner tables has resulted in an airline with one of the world’s worst safety records flying in and out of busy British airports.
MK Airlines, which has had four crashes in 12 years, supplies
Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Marks & Spencer with
hundreds of tonnes of fruit and vegetables each week.
The company is based in
The airline flies regularly into the
In the latest crash, last month, four British men were among the seven crew who died when a Boeing 747 crashed in
The schedule would be illegal in
It was an accident long dreaded by people living near
British airports. Some residents of Manston in
While the Civil Authority Authority
can conduct spotchecks on any aircraft at the request
of the Department for Transport, overall safety regulation of MK Airlines is
controlled entirely by
Four British nationals, two Zimbabweans and a German died in
the crash. The Britons were Captain Michael Thornycroft,
a resident of
Also killed were Mario Zahn, a
German ground engineer who lived in
Captain Thornycroft, 58, was one of MK’s most experienced pilots. Colleagues say that he was “highly disciplined and meticulous”, but was exhausted by the hours that he worked.
His widow, Jackie, told how he would fly from his home near
MK’s previous three crashes, in
1992, 1996 and 2001, all occurred in
The lack of scrutiny may have allowed MK to continue to employ certain pilots with poor safety records. The pilot involved in the first crash, in 1992, was at the controls again in the third crash nine years later. A ground engineer was killed and four British crew members were injured in the 2001 crash, when a Boeing 747 hit the ground 700 metres short of the runway.
The crash last month is being examined forensically because
it happened in
Mike Kruger, 47, who founded MK in 1990, told The Times that
Bill Fowler, who is leading the Canadian investigation, is
coming to
Overloading ruled out as N.S. plane crash cause
Canadian Press
Bill Fowler, lead investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, told The Canadian Press the flight data recorder shows the MK Airlines 747 jet's weight at takeoff was "fairly close to'' 352,400 kilograms.
That was the maximum the plane was allowed to weigh for the
runway at
"Bottom line, we do not see at this time that the aircraft was significantly over or under or off the planned weight, based on the math,'' said Fowler.
The flight data recorder, which was discovered in the wreckage of the crash, indicates what the plane's acceleration and speed were at the time of takeoff.
From this data, mathematical formulas allow investigators
with Boeing, the safety board and the National Transportation Safety Board in
the
Fowler admitted it's still theoretically possible the plane was slightly overweight, but the amount almost certainly wouldn't have prevented a takeoff.
He said the calculations show the plane "was within one per cent, that would mean within 3,500 kilograms'' of a planned weight of 350,700 kilograms.
"That (margin) is not very significant in getting an aircraft this size safely off the ground.''
Speculation that overloading might have been the cause heightened after the board issued a safety advisory on Oct. 20 that said their probe "raised a concern about the management of loads for cargo flights.''
The investigators said they were concerned the weight of
seafood on the aircraft had been estimated rather than actually weighed after
it was packaged and put on pallets in
Fowler said he remains concerned about that practice and the lack of regulatory oversight, but said the investigator's calculations have shifted the probe to the issue of the lack of power at takeoff.
"The big issues is . . . the aircraft took off with the engines set at substantially reduced power from that required to take off at that weight with this runway in those conditions,'' said the veteran investigator.
The lack of power might have resulted from human error, or mechanical problems with the engines and the systems that control them, he explained.
"What scenario is the most plausible? Is it mechanical? Is it human error? Is there any other system error that might have led to this?''
Deepening the puzzle, the flight data recorder shows the aircraft had a large increase of power just seconds before the plane failed to take off.
"In the latter portion of the takeoff the thrust went up to maximum. We're confident thrust was available,'' said Fowler.
By then, however, it was too late.
The plane was barely off the ground when its tail struck an embankment 300 metres beyond the runway and broke off.
Fred Chesbro, a pilot and advocate for improved safety on cargo planes, said in an e-mail that investigators should have a close look at the engine settings.
"Some carriers have been known to unwisely suggest to their pilots that they set lower power settings at takeoff and climb in an effort to save wear on the engines,'' he wrote.
The TSB investigators have noted that two of the cargo jet's four jet engines were replaced just two weeks before the crash and have termed the replacement "unusual.''
The company says the replacements were part of routine maintenance.
However, Fowler said that until further documents are obtained from British-headquartered MK Airlines, no further details are available on the reasons for the engine changes.
He's also concerned the destruction of the voice data recorder in the fiery explosion will slow down the investigation because the pilot's final comments aren't available.
Seeking a small band of hope
Widow will visit jet
crash site, hopes to retrieve wedding ring
By Michael Tutton / The Canadian Press
Joanne Buckley has a simple wish: to hold her husband's wedding ring once again.
For the widow of one of the crew killed last month in a
fiery jet crash near
"It's the closure . . . because it's still very
distant," she said Wednesday, referring to memorial services planned for
next month in
"Being pilots' wives, we have to get rid of this feeling that he's just been flying and he'll be coming through the door any minute now."
David Lamb was one of seven crew members - all residents of
Almost a month later, investigators are still struggling to understand what happened to the massive cargo jet, which was dragging its tail just before it lifted off and struck a berm at the end of Runway 24.
Buckley said she had just learned that the remains of her husband, one of the pilots aboard the aircraft, had been identified.
The couple was married in
Speaking from her home in
In the meantime, she has asked MK Airlines to help her retrieve the ring she put on her husband's hand Sept. 1.
"I'm actually asking at this particular point in time, is there any way I could get my husband's wedding ring back?" she explained.
The RCMP have told Buckley that one wedding ring was found in the wreckage but medical examiners have yet to identify the owner.
A photograph of the ring has been sent to the airline.
In the weeks following the crash, Buckley said, she received little information about what happened to her husband and his colleagues.
However, an official with MK Airlines recently contacted her and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has also been in touch.
Buckley said she now suffers from panic attacks and other family members remain in a state of shock and disbelief.
Still, five families from
Four British nationals, two Zimbabweans and a German died in the crash.
The dead Britons were Capt. Michael Thornycroft,
a resident of
Also killed were ground engineer Mario Zahn,
a German who lived in
A spokesman for British-based MK Airlines said it will pay for the families' airfare - a normal practice for airlines when crew members are killed in a foreign country.
Memorial services will also be held in
Gail Dunham, president of a family support group in the
"It used to be nobody was allowed to visit the site,
but now part of the (
"In many cultures, the site of the death is a vital part of grieving. It should be offered."
Crash Highlighting Safety
Air Cargo World Online
November 2004
With regulators promising to impose new anti-terrorism
regulations on the airline industry, security has dominated air cargo news. But
safety was thrust back into the limelight when an MK Airlines 747-200 freighter
crashed on takeoff from
The crash came as Ellen Engleman Conners, head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, has been putting new focus on cargo issues since taking her post last year. Conners has called for increased scrutiny of what she says is the overlooked area of freighter aircraft, and has adopted the long-time plea of pilots unions that freighters and passenger aircraft should be subject to "one level of safety."
Duane Woerth, president of the
ALPA has been pressing Engleman, lawmakers and regulators to adopt tougher cargo safety standards. Freighter operators point to differences in passenger and cargo flights that they say make it impractical for both to follow precisely the same rules.
The
The airline's three previous crashes occurred in
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada and the NTSB initially focused on the airplane's center of gravity at takeoff. Eyewitness reports described the 747's tail hitting the runway as the aircraft attempted to get airborne, sending it plunging into the ground and bursting into flames. To aircraft safety experts, that suggested loading and balance issues as a possible concern.
The Canadian safety board said it would look for possible "systematic" problems that could link last month's crash to the three previous accidents.
© Copyright 2004 Commonwealth Business Media.
Jet was too slow to take off
By Richard Dooley
A jumbo jet was going too slow to lift off when it hit an
embankment then hurtled into woods near
Transportation Safety Board lead investigator Bill Fowler said the plane “rotated” or lifted its nose up for takeoff at about 240 kilometres per hour. But the takeoff speed was about 56 km/h slower than needed for the weight of the aircraft and the length of runway available.
“Shortly after that rotation, thrust was increased again to what we would consider near the maximum available,” said Fowler.
The board has also discovered the weight of the seafood
loaded onto the plane in
The MK Airlines Boeing 747-200 cargo jet struggled to get airborne, but hit its underside on the runway at least twice. The plane was airborne for a few moments then slammed into a berm at the end of the runway, shearing off the tail section.
The plane crashed in flames into woods just beyond the end of the runway.
Fowler said information from the flight data recorder suggests the plane’s four engines were working normally when the plane crashed. The plane’s other recorder which recorded conversations in the cockpit was completely destroyed in the crash. Having that information would help investigators determine why the plane’s takeoff speed was so slow.
“We are trying to establish why the takeoff was attempted at a reduced power setting,” said Fowler.
The cause of the crash is still undetermined, he said.
“The investigation is still open, all potential areas of the investigation do remain open and we still have a long way to go,” he said.
One potential explanation for the slower takeoff speed is a miscalculation in the cargo weight of the aircraft.
Pilots calculate the amount of thrust they need to achieve takeoff speed based on atmospheric conditions, the amount of fuel on board and the weight of the cargo.
Investigators say the cargo of lobsters and fish loaded on
the jet in
The freight-service provider estimated the weight of the cargo, lashings and pallets and delivered a manifest to the plane with the estimated weights. Investigators say a scale is available at the airport and that MK Airlines thought the loads were being weighed. That information would have been vital to the pilots calculating the takeoff thrust for the plane.
“That critical information may not have been valid,” said Fowler.
Fowler said the plane may not have been overloaded.
“We don’t have enough information to go there,” he said.
The Transportation Safety Board issued an aviation safety advisory yesterday saying there may be a systemic problem with cargo handling and verifying cargo weight going aboard aircraft.
Compounding that problem is the lack of regulatory oversight
of freight-service providers. There are no freight-service providers in
rdooley@hfxnews.ca
The Daily News
Air-cargo watchdog says freight carriers are too
careless
By Richard Dooley
An air-cargo watchdog in the
Fred Chesbro has monitored air cargo safety issues since
2000 when his brother-in-law was killed in the crash of an Emery Worldwide
freight plane near
“Regulators need to enhance their focus on air-cargo safety,” he said, calling for “safety parity” with the airline passenger industry.
He said regulations over the industry have failed to keep up with the growth of air freight worldwide.
Air cargo is expected to grow at a phenomenal rate in the
Chesbro said the rules governing the air-cargo industry haven’t kept pace with the growth of the industry or the technology it uses.
Some of the concerns raised at a recent international forum
on air-cargo safety in the
A recent Dutch study found that a large measure of cargo flights take place at night, presenting additional challenges for flight crews and cargo handlers, and that cargo pilots and passengers pilots often don’t fly under the same regulations.
Chesbro said there is a general lack of regulation over
cargo handling which the industry needs to address, but that regulators in the
“We’ve made some progress, but there is miles to go,” he said.
rdooley@hfxnews.ca
http://novascotia.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ns_planecrash20041014
www.canadaeast.com
Article published:
Investigators find flight data recorder of cargo jet
that crashed in Halifax
HALIFAX (CP) - Investigators have recovered the flight data
recorder from the cargo jet that crashed at the
The flight data recorder, which is often referred to as the black box, should have recorded the positioning and mechanical performance of the aircraft up until the crash.
"This is an important milestone in the investigation," said Bill Fowler, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board, on Sunday.
All seven crew members on board the MK Airlines jet were killed when its takeoff failed early last Thursday morning.
The aircraft's tail struck the ground twice then hit a mound at the end of the runway as it failed to take off and crashed into a wooded area.
Investigators have been combing through the wreckage since the crash and finally uncovered the recorder Sunday.
The approximately 60-centimetre-long box is located toward the rear of the airplane.
Fowler said the recorder has suffered substantial damage, including heat damage, as a result of the crash.
"We are . . . not certain as to the quality and the integrity of the data," he said.
The device will be taken to the board's engineering branch
in
Fowler said the cockpit voice recorder is the next significant piece of the puzzle to find.
Jet’s engines were replaced
By Richard Dooley
Crash investigators learned yesterday that two engines of
the jumbo jet that crashed near
Transportation Safety Board lead investigator Bill Fowler said the performance of the engines is an “area of interest” for his team.
“I would consider it unusual,” said Fowler. But he added the reasons for the engine replacements is not yet known. “Everything has to be examined in context. There could be any number of factors that caused that, and we will get the facts.”
“We’ll examine it, analyse it and see if there is any indication of a systemic issue with this aircraft or these engines.”
The engine replacements were done after a major, but
routine, inspection of the plane at maintenance facility in
MK Airlines Flight 1602 crashed into woods near the airport
around
Fowler said investigators want to learn more about why the engines were replaced, how that work was done and if that affected the performance of the aircraft. Investigators also want to know where on the runway the plane began its takeoff, and if the plane’s engines were producing the right amount of thrust.
Pilots calculate the amount of thrust required to lift off according to the weight of the aircraft; the weight of the cargo, atmospheric conditions and the length of the runway. The calculations are entered into an onboard computer and must be done before every takeoff.
The takeoff performance calculations also take into account engine failure at the most critical time to either successfully takeoff or stop the aircraft.
The combination of a shorter takeoff approach than calculated and engines producing less thrust could affect the performance of a plane attempting to liftoff.
Investigators still haven’t located the plane’s flight-data recorder and cockpit-voice recorder. The so-called black boxes record information about the performance of the aircraft and conversations in the cockpit which could provide critical clues for investigators.
The recorders aren’t fitted with transponders which allow investigators to home-in on the devices. So recovery workers have to painstakingly look through the wreckage to find the recorders. That work has been hampered by fog, heavy rain and the tangle of metal in the debris field.
The bodies of all seven crewmen were recovered from the crash site and turned over to the medical examiner’s office. Autopsies are expected to be completed in the next few days. RCMP Insp. Peter Lepine said ground search and rescue volunteers are no longer being used at the crash site.
He said the health and safety of workers at the crash site continues to be a concern.
“Conditions at the site are extremely challenging,” Lepine said. One of the biggest problems now is the smell of thousands of kilograms of rotting lobsters and fish combined with the smell of jet fuel. Workers have to pick through muddy ground and a debris field that stretches for nearly a kilometre.
Initially, workers were restricted to 20 minutes at a time in the debris field using self-contained breathing apparatus. Now, workers are wearing protective suits and filter masks, prolonging the amount of time they can spend in the debris.
“But there is nothing in there we believe is going to cause us any long-term issues,” said Lepine.
rdooley@hfxnews.ca
Zimbabweans killed in air crash named
By our Correspondent
The Standard
THE crash of an MK Airlines Boeing 747 cargo jet airliner at
Senior Captain Dave Lamb was married on September 11 at
Second captain Mike Thorneycroft (about 60) was divorced from Caroline Thorneycroft, a former Zimbabwean public relations consultant, journalist and broadcaster.
Also killed were Steve Hooper, the flight engineer, Pete Lander the first officer and Chris Strydom the loadmaster. At the time of going to Press it was not immediately clear in what capacity a sixth Zimbabwean, Gary Keogh, was travelling.
The commercial cargo airline's chief representative in
But aviation experts believe Keogh might be
"dead-legging" back to
The seventh crewmember killed was South African Mario Zahn, the ground engineer.
MK airlines was founded by
Zimbabwean born Mike Kruger in 1990, flying mainly Boeing 747 cargo jets mostly
registered in
Malloch was said to be on first name terms with long-time Gabonese dictator President Omar Bongo and the West African nation bought much Rhodesian beef and tobacco from the rebel Ian Smith government despite United Nations sanctions between 1965 and 1980.
Malloch died in the mysterious crash of a World War II Spitfire jet fighter over Goromonzi in 1982.
GRi Press Review
[ 2004-10-26 ]
Overloading the possible reason for
London (UK) – 26 October 2004 - A giant cargo plane owned by a British-based airline with one of the world’s worst accident records may have been carrying an excessive load before it crashed on take-off in Canada, killing all seven crew.
The accident in Halifax, Nova Scotia, involving a Boeing 747-200, was the fourth time in 12 years that an aircraft owned by MK Airlines has gone down.
The victims, who died 10 days ago, included four Britons with dual Zimbabwean nationality.
Although the company’s fleet is registered in
Founded by Mike Kruger, 47, a former Zimbabwean pilot who
resides in
The company’s three previous crashes — including one fatal
accident — happened in
Kruger said there were “extenuating circumstances” found in each case that have led the airline to fit its fleet with enhanced ground-proximity warning systems.
Nevertheless, the Department for Transport (DfT) last week ordered the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)
to carry out a safety inspection of one of MK Airline’s planes in
Although the aircraft was later cleared for take-off, it is the third time this year that checks on the airline have been ordered by the DfT.
Last August CAA officials were unable to complete an
inspection because MK Airlines moved its operations from Manston
airport in
The DfT had sought to act on that
occasion amid concerns that aviation authorities in
In June the department banned two Ghana Airways passenger
jets from landing in
Full details of the crash in
Although the plane’s engines were operating normally, investigators found that it was travelling too slow to lift off safely.
On Friday the TSB issued a safety notice on the proper weighting of cargoes, suggesting that the aircraft may have been overloaded by a separate handling company although investigators have refused to confirm this as the cause of the crash.
Kruger denied that his airline had ever compromised safety
and insisted that
“We have an extremely strong safety regime,” he said. “The
authorities are welcome to inspect us and we are willing to co-operate fully.”
Source: The Times,
Plane bounced off tarmac
Tail section hit
runway twice before plane plowed into ground
By JEFFREY SIMPSON / Staff Reporter
The Halifax Herald Limited
The tail of a Boeing 747 struck the tarmac twice before
breaking off on a mound of earth as the cargo jet struggled to become airborne
and crashed at
Investigators have determined that MK Airlines Flight 1602's tail hit the ground 250 metres and 170 metres from the end of the 2,700-metre runway.
The massive four-engine jet then struck the raised bank of earth, or berm, 300 metres beyond the end of the runway and plowed into a wooded, swampy area where it exploded.
None of the seven crew members survived.
"The aircraft was barely airborne," Bill Fowler of the Transportation Safety Board said Friday. "The scrape trail disappears just before the berm."
Further details remain sketchy.
Mr. Fowler said the investigation has progressed slowly, stymied by heavy rain and the huge amount of jet fuel that was spread over a vast area beyond runway 24.
"We have to be very careful," Mr. Fowler said. "There is a significant potential for injury. It's a hazardous environment, so we're trying to be very careful and make sure that we don't exacerbate an already difficult situation."
The muddy ground at the crash site was scorched and the air
a putrid-smelling cocktail of fuel and fish on Friday afternoon. The plane had
been heading to
The RCMP isn't referring to the probe as a criminal investigation but Mr. Fowler said nothing has been ruled out as a potential cause, including pilot error.
"What we're looking at is not individual actions specifically, but more if indeed an error was committed - and we don't know that," Mr. Fowler said.
"We would want to know why such an error was taken."
Pilots sometimes try to tilt up a plane's nose too quickly when taking off, some experts say.
The 25 safety board investigators involved are also looking into the possibility of pilot fatigue and whether the 747-200 took off from the wrong spot. Mr. Fowler said he hasn't yet established whether the pilots used the entire length of the runway but he believes they started very close to - if not at - the end.
Rob Allen, an air traffic controller, said the jet started from the proper spot on the runway. He said there was a distress call from the plane after impact.
Officials from the British-based airline, whose planes are
registered in
John Power, operations manager for the airline, said the
crew consisted of four British men: Capt. Michael Thornycroft,
a resident of
"The company would like to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences," said Mr. Power, who knew the crew members personally. "Our thoughts go out to the families and friends in this difficult time."
None of the crew had been involved in any previous accidents, Mr. Power said.
But this crash is the fourth for the cargo company in 12 years and the second involving at least one fatality. All three previous crashes were at Nigerian airports.
In 2001, one crew member was killed when a 747 went down about 700 metres short of the runway. In 1996, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8F-55 struck trees during an approach, and in 1992 a DC-8 crashed and caught fire during its final approach.
Flight 1602's flight data recorders, or so-called black boxes, could provide clues to the cause of Thursday's crash but investigators say they have not yet found them.
"It would be very good fortune to come across those recorders at this point," Mr. Fowler said.
"We don't have expectations that it would happen that quickly."
Investigators will probably continue combing through the wreckage for weeks, he said.
The plane was under its gross maximum weight for takeoff, he said.
Pat Chapman, a spokeswoman for the airport, said the jet damaged some navigational equipment that can't be replaced until November, closing one of the airport's two runways.
"We are able to use the other," she said.
The airport is working on minimizing flight disruptions.
Nav
"We don't comment when the TSB investigates because
there are so many factors," said Louis Garneau,
spokesman for Nav
He also said he couldn't reveal whether investigators have interviewed the controllers on duty early Thursday morning.
"I can't tell you specifically," Mr. Garneau said. "It's for the TSB to answer how the investigation is progressing."
Provincial Environment Department spokeswoman Valerie Bellefontaine said two staff members were at the crash site Friday with federal environment officials checking for contamination from jet fuel that may not have burned in the fire.
"There's a brook in the area that would drain into the
"At this point, there has been no sign of any product in the brook."
The Halifax Herald Limited
Andrew Vaughan / CP / Pool
A section of a Boeing 747-200 cargo plane owned by
British-based MK Airlines sits at the end of the runway at the
Firefighters work near a large section of a Boeing 747-200 cargo plane. The aircraft, loaded with mixed cargo, crashed on takeoff, killing all seven crew members.
Previous crashes involving Boeing 747-200
'A very routine flight'
Airline has 'no idea'
what went wrong
By PATRICIA BROOKS and EVA HOARE / Staff Reporters
An MK Airlines official said Thursday the company has
"absolutely no idea at all" why its cargo plane crashed early in the
morning at
"It was an absolutely conventional flight," Steve
Anderson, the company's risk and legal manager, said from his office in
"It was just a very routine flight to
The Boeing 747-200 freighter flew to
The cargo plane was then loaded with 53,405 kilograms of
silver hake and lobster and was taking off for
The huge jet was engulfed by flames and found in pieces.
John Wallace, communications director for
"I don't have details on what those cargo operations were while it was here," he said.
The craft "refuelled, I
believe, and then it took off for
"Don't know anything about its safety record. Don't know anything about any maintenance issues."
MK Airlines has offices in
"When our chief executive started the company in 1990,
his first contracts were to fly pineapple from
"Therefore, the first aircraft were registered in
A company can only hold one air operator's certificate, or
registration, so the fleet remained registered in
According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration,
Bill Mosely, spokesman for the
U.S. Secretary of Transportation, said
The Aviation Safety Network, an international safety
organization, also said by e-mail Thursday that
MK Airlines has lost three planes in crashes since 1992 but
only one resulted in a death. In November 2001, a Boeing 747-200 cargo plane
carrying 13 people crashed on its final approach to
The aircraft crashed about 700 metres short of the runway.
"The front section broke away from the fuselage. A fire erupted in the main fuselage," the site states.
About 10 days ago, the plane involved in Thursday's crash underwent a "C-check," a 21-day overhaul that includes a major check of all hydraulic, braking and other systems, Mr. Anderson said.
The company used Garuda, the
national airline of
Its maintenance staff is "incredibly competent," he said, as Garuda has its own fleet of Boeing 747-200s and all the tools and capability.
"It was a very, very major check and it was literally done less than two weeks ago, so that's why we're just even more bewildered by the whole thing," Mr. Anderson said.
MK Airlines will offer investigators whatever records they need to complete their review of the crash, he said.
"They will find the black boxes and so on, so that they read the transcript and develop a picture as to what happened."
A call to
UPDATED AT
Jet's tail key to crash investigation
By SHAWNA RICHER
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
The Boeing 747-200 owned and operated by MK Airlines, a
small cargo carrier based in
After the tail slammed into the runway for the second time, the plane hit a berm at the end of the strip, tearing through navigational antennas and crashing in a forest a kilometre beyond.
"The indication is there was prolonged contact of the aft fuselage with the runway and off the end of the runway," said Bill Fowler, investigator with the Transportation Safety Board. "The main part of the fuselage continued ballistically until the final impact point."
Many things — including but not limited to engine failure, overload and cargo shift — can cause a tail strike, Mr. Fowler said. He emphasized that it is too soon to pursue one probability.
But a former airline industry worker, who at one time oversaw the doomed freighter, believed the plane's considerable load may have shifted as it was attempting takeoff.
Rod Meyers, who managed operations for Garuda
Mr. Meyers, who lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and lost his job after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States after more than 20 years in the airline-cargo industry, explained how a change in the centre of gravity can affect a plane, causing a tail to hit the runway.
"To cause a plane to tilt out of control like that, there has to be some sort of outside force," he said. "My first thought was that the load shifted. When they tried to rotate, everything tilted to the back, rendering the plane unflyable and causing the tail to hit. Seafood can be pretty heavy. It doesn't take much momentum to shift it."
The plane was carrying 53,305 kilograms of seafood and an
unspecified amount of lawn tractors. It originated in
Captain John Power, the MK operations manager in
Airplane cargo is assembled on metal pallets, typically accommodating up to 6,500 kilos each, restrained with nets. Each spot on the plane has a different weight limit and cargo is carefully arranged accordingly and locked into place. It is not supposed to move.
However, Mr. Meyers argued: "The tail hit the runway twice, which sounds to me like when they tried to take off the weight shifted and they tried to continue with the takeoff. We're talking thousands of pounds; if a couple of boxes of fish fell over, it won't make a difference. But if a couple of pallets fell into the back end, you could easily have a problem."
At the point where the crew would realize that the cargo had shifted — once the nose began to tilt up — it would be too late. Travelling at roughly 330 kilometres an hour, the plane was committed to takeoff.
"They wouldn't know anything has shifted until the plane started to tilt on rotation," Mr. Meyers said. "If the load had shifted, they wouldn't be prepared and in most cases it would cause a calamity. In general, you would throw the throttle and try to get the plane in the air. At that point, it's your flying skills versus the laws of gravity."
Mr. Fowler said yesterday that investigators have yet to recover the black box data recorders, which may go a long way toward telling them what happened in the flight's final moments.
Meanwhile, Capt. Power called MK's
safety record "excellent" despite the fact the airline had suffered
three previous crashes, in 1992, 1996 and 2001. The aircraft was destroyed in
each accident. They all occurred in
Cargo plane from Bradley crashes in eastern Canada
(
A Boeing 747 cargo jet bound for
The MK Airlines jet loaded with lawn tractors and 58 tons of
lobster and fish crashed shortly before
The flight had originated from
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said there were no survivors.
Constable Joe Taplin said that authorities had recovered some of the remains of the dead.
The tail of the jet lay in a field at the end of the runway, inside the fence surrounding the airport. The rest of the plane cut a wide, V-shaped swath through woods and brush and came to rest in pieces less than a mile away. The tops of several trees and power poles were sheared off.
"The aircraft basically didn't take off,"
The weather at the time of the crash was good with a partly cloudy sky and light winds.
A pilot familiar with large planes quoted by Canadian Press said tails of jets such as the 747 occasionally strike the ground during rotation -- the point in the takeoff sequence when the pilot pulls back on the control stick, lifting the nose off the ground. Large aircraft have so-called strike bars that protect the tail section.
The plane's crew are from the
The crash was the fourth for the cargo company in 12 years
and the second involving fatalities. All three previous crashes were in
Witness Peter Lewis was dropping off his wife at the airport and saw two explosions that resembled heat lightning.
"As we were approaching we saw what I thought was heat lighting 'cause I told everyone in the car that we've got heat lightning in the sky," he told radio station CJCH.
"That was only a quick one followed by a second one that was bigger. And then we seen a very bright orange light and I mean bright. It took up the whole sky."
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada assembled a team
of investigators in
The crash forced the airport to close for several hours. Power was temporarily knocked out, but flights resumed on one runway when backup generators were brought in.
Safety doubts on crashed aircraft
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent and Richard Cleroux in
A GIANT cargo plane which crashed in
The crew died when the Boeing 747 crashed and exploded into
flames at the end of a runway seconds after taking off from
It was the fourth crash in 12 years for a plane belonging to
MK Airlines, a company which is based in
In August the Department for Transport ordered the Civil
Aviation Authority to carry out unannounced safety inspections of MK Airlines
aircraft. But the authority has been
unable to do so because, a week after the order, the company shifted its
operations from
Yesterday’s crash involved a 20-year-old plane loaded with
lobsters and tractors bound for
Jet crash in
By SHAWNA RICHER
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Halifax — As Mounties and investigators picked through the still-smouldering wreckage of a Boeing 747 cargo jet that crashed at Halifax International Airport killing all seven crew, the airline skirted questions Thursday night about its shaky safety record.
MK Airlines Flight 1602 crashed in the darkness while
attempting takeoff at
This was the fourth major crash for MK Airlines in the past
13 years. All the previous ones occurred in
But Thursday's disaster was MK's worst yet.
MK Airlines official Captain John Power, arriving last night
from England where the company is based, looked shaken when pressed about the
airline's other crashes. He refused to address them or relate any of their
circumstances to what happened in
“I'm not here to defend, I'm here to support this investigation,” Capt. Power said. “My primary focus is to establish the cause of this accident. I don't want, at this point, to be sidetracked.”
Bill Fowler, a Halifax-based representative from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said Thursday night that details of MK's previous crashes would be considered in the investigation.
“We're too early into this to speculate, but if there are elements that are systemic in other accidents, we will look into that,” he said. “It's a matter of course; we will look at those to see if they link. We haven't found out any links, but that doesn't mean there aren't any.”
He said a preliminary search into the history of this
particular aircraft, built in 1980 and registered in
In November, 2001, an MK Boeing 747 crashed in
In December, 1996, an MK McDonnell Douglas DC-8 struck trees
on approach at the same airport in
In February, 1992, when the airline was just two years old,
another DC-8, this one built in 1966, crashed and caught fire on landing in
Names of the crew were not released. The plane was carrying a captain, first officer and flight engineer, plus a loadmaster and three spare crew who were hitching rides home. There were four Britons, two Zimbabweans and one German.
The MK Airlines head office is in Hartfield,
Mr. Fowler, who said police were still heading the investigation Thursday night, refused to speculate on what caused the fiery crash in the darkness of the wee hours.
“Very early in an investigation there is a lot of speculation,” Mr. Fowler said. “We have no information one way or another and we'll let the investigation follow its course. We're gathering data and looking at abnormalities. The critical element is to determine the sequence of events pre-impact and post-impact.” Earlier in the day, there were reports an explosion preceded the crash, but Mr. Fowler said “preliminary information doesn't suggest that.”
Investigators are considering the possibility that the tail struck the runway before the plane was airborne. Some of the details about the crash site and the way in which wreckage was strewn over a relatively compact area about the size of a football field suggest that the plane never lifted far off the ground and thudded into the earth without gaining much speed.
An enormous section of the tail was found in a field near the end of the runway, about 60 metres from the crash site.
Peter Garrison, a pilot, engineer and long-time columnist for Flying Magazine who writes mainly on airline crashes, said that while it is difficult to speculate so early in an investigation, experts probing the crash would typically first look at the aircraft's centre of gravity.
As of late Thursday, Mr. Fowler said that transportation safety officials had not reached the core of the debris. The probe was suspended at dusk and is to resume at daybreak.
The doomed plane arrived from
“All I saw was the nose going up and it looked like it was dragging and then the power went out and then you just saw white and orange sky,” said Darren MacLaughlin, who saw the crash.
An early and eerie look at the wreckage suggested no chance for survival. Only the centre hull of the fuselage, charred and smoking, was intact. The plane cleared the runway, a fence and a road, but not by much, shearing off tops of trees and power poles, and crashing into the woods about 50 metres from the runway.
Both wings were torn off, the engines ripped from the wings and scattered about. The wreckage suggests the plane had little forward speed by the time it was trying to lift off. Losing the tail would make the jet a few tonnes lighter so the body could have cleared the fence as the pilot lost control.
Mr. Fowler said Thursday night that to his knowledge the
voice data recorders had not been recovered. He said a National Transportation
Safety Board official from the
MK Airlines has been running chartered flights in and out of
The airline, through a Ghanaian unit, has applied to the
Canadian regulator for an additional series of twice-weekly cargo flights
between
At the time, a spokeswoman for then-transportation-minister
David Collenette said the regulator had misinterpreted
government policy in granting the permit. Air
But MK and one of its customers, Zeus Seafood Inc., appealed
to the Federal Court of Canada, paving the way for the transportation regulator
to authorize new cargo operations in November, 2003. MK Airlines received its
first cargo permit to operate out of
Probe begins into deadly cargo jet crash
Last Updated Thu,
The investigation remains in the hands of the RCMP's Major Crimes Unit until criminal involvement has been ruled out, however. That's the same protocol that emergency workers in the province followed after Swissair's Flight 111 crashed off Peggy's Cove in 1998.
"We're going to be going 24 hours, around the clock," RCMP spokesman Const. Joe Taplin told reporters at an afternoon briefing on the crash of MK Airlines flight 1602.
In
The airport workers apparently saw the jet's tail hit an earthen mound topped by navigation towers before it snapped off. That sent the plane ploughing into thick bush near the end of the runway, sparking a huge orange fireball as the 200,000 litres of fuel on board ignited.
Mark Lush said everything seemed normal until the very last minute.
"I seen the MK roll by on the taxiway or on the runway and that was it. And then I seen a flash and someone yelled, 'A fire! Fire!' And I looked and all I seen was smoke and red flames at the end of the runway."
No room to take off?
Already, speculation is mounting that the 20-year-old plane
turned onto the
Investigators said it's too early to rule out any cause, though, including some other kind of human error, a load of cargo that was too heavy, a bird being sucked into an engine, or even terrorism.
Within three minutes, the first emergency crews were at the main crash site, about a kilometre into the woods near a quarry, but it took about three hours for 60 firefighters and 20 trucks to extinguish the blazing jet fuel.
Hours later, the site was still so intensely hot that investigators couldn't approach the fuselage wreckage to search for the plane's flight data recorders.
Victims from
Emergency officials did manage to recover some remains of
the seven male crew members. Six of them were from
The plane's home base was in the African country of
"While little is known about the reasons why MK Airlines flight 1602 tragically crashed, what we do know is that today seven families are grieving the loss of loved ones," Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm said in the legislature Thursday afternoon, as politicians observed a minute of silence.
"On behalf of the government and the people of
Officials from the Transportation Safety Board arrived mid-morning to begin helping the RCMP investigation, with a view to taking it over if and when it is declared a safety matter instead of a criminal one.
"We're gathering data. We're looking for abnormalities," said Bill Fowler of the Transportation Safety Board.
Fowler said transportation safety officials from the
Concerns for environment
Provincial environment officials were also at the crash site to contain any damage caused by the jet fuel spill.
There were reports that the cargo plane carried radioactive depleted uranium as ballast in its rudders and wings, a practice common among wide-body aircraft. A Transportation Safety Board spokesman said the material does not pose a threat to those working on the wreckage.
Passengers were stranded at the airport for several hours as
the airport shut down in the immediate wake of the crash. Seventeen flights
were either cancelled or delayed by the shutdown at the airport, located about
35 kilometres from downtown
Commercial flights started leaving the airport again at around 9:30 a.m. local time.
Flight bound for
The cargo flight had stopped in
At the time of the crash, the weather was partly cloudy with some light winds blowing.
In an interview from
"She's been an absolute gem," he said.
The airline had been flying out of the
The cargo company had experienced three other crashes in the
past 12 years, all of them in
Written by CBC News Online staff
Copyright ©2004 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
Cargo plane with seven crew crashes near
HALIFAX (CP) -- A loaded cargo jet bound for
A spokesman for MK Airlines of Britain said the situation looked grim given the fact the crash created a huge fireball in the pre-dawn sky.
"I understand from our people on the ground in
Later reports indicated there were no survivors.
"The aircraft basically didn't take off. She continued her rotation and ran off the runway and ran into woods."
The tail of the jet lay in a field at the end of the runway and inside the fence surrounding the large airport property.
The rest of the plane cut a wide, V-shaped swath through woods and brush and came to rest in pieces about a kilometre away.
The tops of several trees and power poles were sheered off during the impact. The wings snapped off and lay in the brush, which was still burning in places several hours later.
A mangled engine and a charred portion of fuselage lay nearby.
"It's very devastating,"
"It's surreal, is what it is. It's reality, but it's surreal for sure."
The Boeing 747-200 crashed shortly before
Pictures from the scene showed an orange glow in the sky. It took about 60 fire fighters and 20 trucks about three hours to control a large fire caused by burning jet fuel on the ground. It was reported the aircraft was carrying 200,000 litres fuel.
Meanwhile, the crash forced the airport to close for several hours. Power was temporarily knocked out, but flights resumed on one runway later in the morning when backup generators were brought in.
It was unclear whether anyone on the ground was hurt, but
"We understand there were no third parties involved."
The plane's crew are either from
the
Aside from the usual three-person crew in the cockpit, the plane was also carrying a loadmaster and a spare crew.
The weather at the time of the crash was good with a partly cloudy sky and light winds.
The huge aircraft, which stopped in
Witness Peter Lewis was dropping off his wife at the airport and saw two explosions.
"As we were approaching we saw what I thought was heat lightning," he told radio station CJCH. "That was only a quick one followed by a second one that was bigger. And then we saw a very bright orange light -- and I mean bright. It took up the whole sky."
The MK Airlines spokesman said the company had never had problems with this particular aircraft.
"She's been an absolute gem,"
The crash was the fourth for the cargo company in 12 years
and the second involving fatalities. All three previous crashes were in
In 2001, one crew member was killed when a 747 went down about 700 metres short of the runway.
In 1996, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8F-55 struck trees during approach. There were no fatalities.
In 1992, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 crashed and caught fire, also during final approach.
The information on the previous crashes is listed on a website for the Aviation Safety Network, an independent aviation safety organization.
Officials at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Science Centre said they were put on Code Orange, meaning they had to prepare for mass casualties. However, the alert was later called off and no casualties were brought to the hospital.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has assembled a
team of investigators in
The flight originated near
A pilot familiar with large planes said the tails of jets such as the 747 occasionally strike the ground during rotation -- the point in the takeoff sequence when the pilot pulls back on the control stick, lifting the nose off the ground.
Large aircraft have so-called strike bars that protect the tail section when the pilot over-rotates and tail strikes the runway.
"It doesn't happen that often," said a pilot who didn't want his name used. "You can encounter turbulence right at rotation."
While tail strikes are uncommon, pilots can recover from them, he said.
Seven killed in
CTV.ca News Staff
Questions are being raised about the safety record of a
Boeing 747 cargo jet that crashed in
The crash happened just before
The plane was airborn for just a few seconds before slamming into nearby trees.
"It was like it was almost dragging -- the behind was dragging," eyewitness Darren McLaughlin told ATV News, an affiliate of CTV. He said the plane just seemed to blow up, "from white sky to an orange sky."
MK Airlines, the company that owns the crashed aircraft, is
a British-owned cargo firm based in
Capt. John Power, the operations manager for MK, arrived in
"I am not here to defend, I'm here to try and support this investigation," Power said, adding that he would provide more information on Friday.
According to reports, MK Airlines has been involved in four
crashes since 1990 -- all during takeoffs or landings. All three previous
crashes were in
This crash is by far the worst, in terms of loss of life. Power described the nationalities of the seven crew members as:
Four
One German passport holder, also living in
Two Zimbabwean passport holders, living in
"The families and all of MK are grieving the loss of our friends and our fellow airmen," Power said.
The investigation
The RCMP is treating the crash as a potential criminal investigation, following witness reports of explosions during the crash.
Transportation Safety Board investigators from
Bill Fowler, an inspector with the U.S. Transportation Safety Board, said it's too early to tell what might have caused the crash. "We're so early into this," he said.
Responding to questions about the plane's flying record, Fowler said they have not yet linked previous crashes with this accident.
"It's just a matter of course that we will look at that aspect. And what you have to make sure is that there is a clear link. And if there is a clear link, we will put those aspects together.
"But we do not lead to those conclusions at this stage."
Earlier, ATV reporter Marc Patrone reported that Fowler had said there is nothing to indicate the plane was too heavy, nor that there was an explosion before the crash, as some are suggesting.
The most important clue might be the jet's crumpled tail, which is lying in a field just off the end of the runway. The bulk of the charred aircraft is lying in pieces, hundreds of metres away.
When it came down, the plane snapped poles like toothpicks, ripped through power lines, and cut a swath through the bush at the end of the runway about the length of a football field.
"The disturbing and overall image that most strikes you is the wreckage itself, and the hulk of this fuselage -- nothing but a blackened centre of an aircraft torn into pieces," said Michael Tutton, the only journalist given access to the site.
The plane had arrived from
It took 60 firefighters nearly three hours to douse the flames.
The jet's flight data recorders have yet to be recovered.
In
With reports from CTV's John Vennavally-Rao and ATV's Marc Patrone
Cargo plane crashes part of worrying trend in aviation
- safety expert
Michael Tutton
Canadian Press
HALIFAX (CP) - The fiery airplane crash that killed seven crew in
An eyewitness said it appeared the jet that crashed, an MK Airlines 747-200, was dragging its tail on the runway before it hit a series of towers at the edge of the airport, sheering off its huge tail.
The fuselage and wings of the aircraft flew over a rural side road, ripping through utility poles and trees before bursting into flames in a wooded area about 1,000 metres from the runway.
Alex Richman, president of an aviation safety software firm
based in
"One crash is too many, and a history of four crashes in a small number of years is statistically very unusual," said Richman, who has researched air crashes since 1991.
Richman says there's a pressing need to examine the safety records of cargo airlines to see if regulations need to be tightened.
"The planes are older, the planes fly at night, the nature of the operation often involves flight crews that change frequently from job to job, and there is a high pressure to perform on time," said Richman, president of Halifax-based Algo Plus Consulting.
The National Transportation Safety Board, based in
No figures were immediately available for
The figures "set off alarm bells," said Richman.
The 747-200 jet that crashed at the
At some point in the past 24 years, it was converted to a cargo-only plane.
The flight was carrying 53,000 kilograms of silver hake and
lobster, according to Kim West, spokeswoman for Worldwide Aviation, a shipping
firm based in
There was also an unknown quantity of lawn tractors, tractor
parts and computer gear picked up from a prior stop in
The plane had also just refueled in
However, Ross Wilson, a spokesman for the airline, said the aircraft was not overloaded.
"At the moment, everything we're talking about is speculation," he said.
The maximum payload of a standard Boeing 747-200 cargo jet is 90,000 kilograms, said Jim Proulx, spokesman for the Boeing Company.
He was unable to confirm if a converted jet has the same maximum payload, though aviation web sites indicate some 747-200s can carry up to 110,000 kilograms.
Proulx also declined to comment on whether the crash of the MK Airlines 747 had any similarities to other crashes of the aging aircraft.
"We're unable to comment on the cause of the crash," he said. "I can tell you we're helping them in the investigation."
© The Canadian Press 2004
Cargo plane with seven crew crashes near
Thu Oct 14,
MICHAEL TUTTON
HALIFAX (CP) - The tail section of a Boeing 747 snapped off
seconds before the loaded cargo jet crashed into woods at the end of a runway
at
Cargo Jet Crash in
"Our thoughts and our prayers go to the families of those killed in this tragedy," said Pat Chapman, a spokesperson for the airport authority.
The tail of the wide-body plane, owned by MK Airlines Ltd. of
"The aircraft basically didn't take off," said
Steve Anderson, an airline spokesman in
There didn't appear to be casualties on the ground as there are no homes in the area.
The fuselage and wings of the aircraft cut a wide, V-shaped swath through woods before coming to rest in pieces about a kilometre away.
"We've recovered some remains at the scene," said RCMP Const. Joe Taplin.
He said the RCMP were treating the crash as a potential criminal investigation after reports of an explosion. He didn't elaborate.
Bill Fowler, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said it's not unusual for police to take the lead in the early stages of investigations involving fatal crashes.
"We are providing technical assistance and we will continue to do so until that investigation changes, if it does, to a safety investigation," he said.
The tops of several trees and power poles were sheered off. The jet's severed wings lay in the brush, which was still burning in places several hours later. A mangled engine and a charred portion of fuselage lay nearby.
The Boeing 747-200, which was loaded with fuel for a flight
to
Pictures from the scene showed an orange glow in the pre-dawn sky. It took about 60 firefighters and 20 trucks about three hours to control a fire caused by burning jet fuel on the ground.
Dave Carroll, a volunteer firefighter, said he arrived to see a large "fireball in the bushes."
His face smeared with soot, Carroll said he'd never seen such wreckage and was saddened by the fact "it was such a big plane and there were lives lost."
"It's one of those things you hope you never come to a second time," he said.
The crash forced the airport to close for several hours, delaying or cancelling 17 flights. Power was temporarily knocked out, but flights resumed on one runway later in the morning.
MK Airlines said the dead crew members were all males. Six
were from
Aside from the usual three-person crew in the cockpit, the plane was also carrying a loadmaster and a spare crew.
The weather at the time of the crash was good with a partly cloudy sky and light winds.
The huge aircraft, which stopped in
Fowler said preliminary indications suggest the aircraft wasn't overloaded.
Witness Peter Lewis was dropping off his wife at the airport and saw two explosions.
"As we were approaching we saw what I thought was heat lightning," he told radio station CJCH. "That was only a quick one followed by a second one that was bigger. And then we saw a very bright orange light - and I mean bright. It took up the whole sky."
The MK Airlines spokesman said the company had never had problems with this particular aircraft.
"She's been an absolute gem,"
The crash was the fourth for the cargo company in 12 years
and the second involving fatalities. All three previous crashes were in
In 2001, one crew member was killed when a 747 went down about 700 metres short of the runway.
In 1996, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8F-55 struck trees during approach. There were no fatalities.
In 1992, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 crashed and caught fire, also during final approach.
The information on the previous crashes is listed on a website for the Aviation Safety Network, an independent aviation safety watchdog.
The TSB has assembled a team of investigators in
Fowler said the jet's flight data recorders had yet to be recovered.
The flight originated near
A pilot familiar with large planes said the tails of jets such as the 747 occasionally strike the ground during rotation - the point in the takeoff sequence when the pilot pulls back on the control stick, lifting the nose off the ground.
Large aircraft have so-called strike bars that protect the tail section when the pilot over-rotates and the tail strikes the runway.
"It doesn't happen that often," said the pilot, who didn't want his name used. "You can encounter turbulence right at rotation."
While tail strikes are uncommon, pilots can recover from them, he said.
Anderson, the MK spokesman, confirmed the aircraft was in the process of rotating when it crashed.
In
Fowler said the downed jet was likely equipped with depleted uranium, a radioactive material often used as ballast in the rudders and wings of wide-body aircraft.
Depleted uranium is the dense, heavy waste produced during the making of nuclear fuel and weapons.
A 747 may contain as much as 1,500 kilograms of the material, which is denser than lead and 60 per cent as radioactive as natural uranium.
Fowler said "there is no threat or concern" about exposure to those working on the wreckage.
Video Files:
1. http://home.att.net/~aircargosafety/CAG1U5NO.htm
2. http://home.att.net/~aircargosafety/CAG2.htm
3. http://home.att.net/~aircargosafety/CAG3.htm
4. http://home.att.net/~aircargosafety/CAG4.htm
5. http://home.att.net/~aircargosafety/cag5.htm
DNA tests completed in fatal air crash
Broadcast News
Police say the provincial medical examiners office have confirmed the identities of each of the men.
The families of the victims, in
Arrangements are now being finalized and approximately 32
family members and MK Air Line representatives will be arriving in
A memorial service will be held at a local funeral home on December 16th.
The family members will then be visiting the area where the airplane came to rest.
© Broadcast News 2004
Crew identities confirmed in
The provincial medical examiner's office has confirmed the
identities of each of the men, police said. The victims were from
The Transportation Safety Board is examining flight recorders, crew schedules and other data in trying to determine what caused the crash. CP