South Korean cargo plane carrying 2 crashes

@VeeOne, profit is still the bottom line so they will not sacrifice payload for heavier containers. We are still expendable.

727Vet, Well I did wonder if I was being cynical by thinking there was a profit/loss equation here that might weight up aircraft/aircrew loss against potential profit by the risk taking. I wonder how many aircraft have to be lost in a financial year to make this sort of thing not worth the grief for the bean counters? I guess in the end it is a insurance issue for them. The bean counters count the cost in high insurance rates rather than aircrew lives (not to mention those on the ground). Pretty sad and twisted world we live in.

RIP and condolences to the bereaved.

I am surprised that they allowed Li batteries to be shipped like that. The last time I looked at the IATA dangerous goods regulations, Li batteries are not to be shipped by air except when an individual battery is shipped in the apparatus that it is to power, and it has been isolated by a plastic cap. The rules may have changed since then as that was over a year ago. @VeeOne, profit is still the bottom line so they will not sacrifice payload for heavier containers. We are still expendable.

Maybe it is time dangerous cargo has special cargo containers that don’t allow fire or corrosive material to pass into the aircraft fuselage?

I didn’t know that they had determined that the lithium ion batteries caused the fire/control problems. 🙁

Lithium ion battery packs?

It surely reminds us of UPS Airlines Flight 6.

N571UP

Lithium ion batteries

I wonder why such a hazardous cargo continues to be transported aboard 747 freighters…surely it would raise the ire of ICAO.

woops, my bad. Merged.

Already posted: http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=110844

Still, very sad news.

Asiana Cargo 747 crashes

SEOUL, South Korea — An Asiana Airlines cargo plane crashed into waters off the southern coast of South Korea on Thursday after reporting a fire in its cargo compartments, government officials said.

The maritime police were searching for any sign of plane’s two pilots about 70 miles west of Jeju, the southernmost island off South Korea, in an area where a seat, a wing tip and other pieces of wreckage were recovered.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/world/asia/29crash.html

This is the aircraft apparently

http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=7019369&nseq=13

An apparent press release from Asiana, taken from PPRuNe

Asiana has issued this quite detailed press release:

July 27, 2011
OZ Flight 991 Press Release

1. Accident Details

A. Time: July 28, 2011 (Thu.) 04:11 AM
B. Location: Approximately 76 miles southwest of CJU Airport.
C. Flight: OZ991 (ICN-PVG)

Departure Time: 02:47 AM, Estimated Time of Arrival: 04:33 AM

D. Crew

– Captain: Sang-Gi Choi (Born: January 25, 1959)
– Employed at Asiana since July 2, 1991
– Assigned to B747 since July 3, 2001
– 6,896 hours of flight time in B747
– 14,123 hours of total flight time

– Co-pilot: Jeong-Woong Lee (Born: August 12, 1967)
– Employed at Asiana since April 2, 2007
– Assigned to B747 since November 4, 2010
– 492 hours of flight time in B747
– 5,211 hours of total flight time

E. Freight: 58 Tons

– Freight Contents: More than 90% of the freight was standard cargo and IT products. The remainder was comprised of liquids (e.g., paint, resin solution, etc.)
– All cargo was loaded in accordance with IATA regulations.

F. Aircraft Specifications

– Registration Number/Aircraft Type: HL7604/B747-400F
– Owner: AAR
– Manufacturer: BOEING
– Manufacture Date: 2006.02.15.
– Operational Date: 2006.02.23

G. Details

– At 04:11 AM (Korea Standard Time) flight OZ991 reported control problems at an altitude of 7600 feet and was diverted to CJU when contact was lost with the aircraft.
– 04:11KST – Contact is lost with the aircraft at 7,600 feet when it reports control problems and is diverted to CJU.
– 04:15KST – Contact initiated by Republic of Korea Coast Guard and Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC)

Now being reported as a fire on board. Part of the cargo was lithium batteries. The a/c was HL7604. How many times does this problem have to be repeated before action is taken to prevent tragedies like this? 🙁

R.I.P. to the two pilots.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gXP5AV-zTh0FUWOgC5a2B_qG9GTA?docId=CNG.b8ddcd45fb4de7570a444013d5b8e3ad.1061

Condolences to those bereaved RIP to those lost

Condolences to those bereaved RIP to those lost.
It will be technically interesting to see what the final investigation report says as it was a B747. Sad set of events in all.