Cargo aircraft crashes in Canada
A cargo plane has crashed on take-off from Halifax, Canada, leaving all seven crew members feared dead.
The Ghana-registered MK Airlines Boeing 747 plane crashed into a quarry at the end of the runway at about 0340 local time (0740 GMT), Canadian media says.
Canadian radio said a local hospital had called off its code orange alert – suggesting no survivors are expected.
An MK Airlines spokesman said the crew were Zimbabwean and South African, but some reports say they included Britons.
The cause of the crash is unknown.
The airline spokesman told PA news agency the Sussex, UK-based company was still trying to get information about the crash and was sending a team to Nova Scotia.
The news agency Associated Press reported a witness, Peter Lewis, as telling radio station CJCH he had been dropping off his wife at the airport when he saw two explosions.
“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,” Mr Lewis said.
“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 plane is reported to have been carrying tractors and seafood when it crashed.
By: Newforest - 1st July 2006 at 07:39
Further news report.
A further report from another newspaper describes the company as routinely taking ‘shortcuts’.
By: Newforest - 29th June 2006 at 19:54
Update.
Apparently the crew, if they had finished the flight, would have had a 23hr shift, management at MK Airlines has got a lot better though over the last year
From today’s paper. Incorrect data was entered into the take-off software and the crew would have been over hours, if they had completed the flight. 🙁
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060629.wplane0629/BNStory/National/home
By: jethro15 - 15th October 2004 at 16:06
Canadian press report:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20041015.wplane1015/BNStory/National/
By: jethro15 - 15th October 2004 at 16:06
Canadian press report:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20041015.wplane1015/BNStory/National/
By: mmitch - 15th October 2004 at 15:10
ANN reports that it was carrying a cargo of tractors and had stopped to pick up 50 tonnes more cargo and refuel.
http://www.aero-news.net/news/commair.cfm?ContentBlockID=a9f19eea-8eab-4fd7-ad51-797506a6cf10&Dynamic=1
If one of those tractors had come loose in the back half, the pilot would have had little chance of recovery. Lets wait and see what the inquiry finds out.
mmitch.
By: mmitch - 15th October 2004 at 15:10
ANN reports that it was carrying a cargo of tractors and had stopped to pick up 50 tonnes more cargo and refuel.
http://www.aero-news.net/news/commair.cfm?ContentBlockID=a9f19eea-8eab-4fd7-ad51-797506a6cf10&Dynamic=1
If one of those tractors had come loose in the back half, the pilot would have had little chance of recovery. Lets wait and see what the inquiry finds out.
mmitch.
By: TWA302 - 15th October 2004 at 11:50
Apparently the tailplane/section broke off at – or about – the rotation point of the take-off run, the BBC are now reporting that a video of the accident shows this happening.
-Dazza
THAT would be one important video…But not sure how well one would see a video taken @ 0340 unless they had a night lense
By: TWA302 - 15th October 2004 at 11:50
Apparently the tailplane/section broke off at – or about – the rotation point of the take-off run, the BBC are now reporting that a video of the accident shows this happening.
-Dazza
THAT would be one important video…But not sure how well one would see a video taken @ 0340 unless they had a night lense
By: Bmused55 - 15th October 2004 at 11:46
deary me, their bodies aren’t even cold yet and the crew are getting blamed
By: Bmused55 - 15th October 2004 at 11:46
deary me, their bodies aren’t even cold yet and the crew are getting blamed
By: steve rowell - 15th October 2004 at 11:40
Looks as though it could be pilot error, apparently it over rotated and scraped the runway
By: steve rowell - 15th October 2004 at 11:40
Looks as though it could be pilot error, apparently it over rotated and scraped the runway
By: Dazza - 14th October 2004 at 20:34
Apparently the tailplane/section broke off at – or about – the rotation point of the take-off run, the BBC are now reporting that a video of the accident shows this happening.
-Dazza
By: Dazza - 14th October 2004 at 20:34
Apparently the tailplane/section broke off at – or about – the rotation point of the take-off run, the BBC are now reporting that a video of the accident shows this happening.
-Dazza
By: Mark L - 14th October 2004 at 20:22
MK had 7 747s, down to 6 now 🙁
By: Mark L - 14th October 2004 at 20:22
MK had 7 747s, down to 6 now 🙁
By: Mpacha - 14th October 2004 at 20:20
Apparently it was ex-SAA 747-200 ZS-SAF (Waterberg) the sister aircraft to ZS-SAS (Helderberg) which crashed in 1987.
Sad loss. 🙁
By: Mpacha - 14th October 2004 at 20:20
Apparently it was ex-SAA 747-200 ZS-SAF (Waterberg) the sister aircraft to ZS-SAS (Helderberg) which crashed in 1987.
Sad loss. 🙁
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October 14, 2004 at 1:16 pm