A National Airlines Boeing 747-400 cargo aircraft crashed on takeoff from Bagram airfield in Afghanistan yesterday. All seven souls on board were killed. It's reported by some sources, but not yet confirmed, that the crew radioed that the cargo had shifted aft, making the aircraft tail-heavy and uncontrollable. This video, shot by a passing vehicle, appears to lend credence to that, in the form of aircraft attitude and control response. (Thanks to reader M. J. for sending me the link.)
Say a prayer for those on board as you watch this. You're watching them die.
May their sins be forgiven them, and their souls rest in peace.
Peter
Dear God in Heaven that was painful to watch....
ReplyDeleteHail Mary
ReplyDeleteFull of Grace
The Lord is with thee
Oh, man. God, comfort their loved ones.
ReplyDeleteYep, that is NOT a normal atitude... And at least they tried to save it. God Bless their souls!
ReplyDeleteIf the loadmaster responsible for securing that cargo wasn't on board, he's gonna be in a WORLD of shit. Rightfully. Spoken as a true pastor, Peter. Thank you..
ReplyDelete@JohninMD - It appears the loadmaster was on board, according to a casualty list mentioned in the Atlantic:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/bagram-airfield-crash-video/64730/
I presume the loadmaster on board was the one responsible for loading and securing the cargo, rather than other contractors on the airfield. Unfortunately, in Afghanistan, one never knows.
The loadmaster was on board.
ReplyDeleteI can't watch that, and I hope Irish Woman doesn't either. I do CRAF missions as a volunteer loadmaster for my employer. We don't fly into combat zones, but we haul a lot of the same cargo as that flight had.
May the Lord comfort their families and welcome them into his presence.
When I saw that on the news I remarked to my wife that the flat spin had to be the result of a weight & balance calculation error. Not any less sad that the W&B problem resulted from cargo shift.
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