WTF happened. Too much weight?
Scott says:
April 29, 2013 at 2:55 pm
I witnessed this crash today and there was no Taliban involvement. I can tell you this for sure – the 747 took off and commenced a quite steep climb out, not unusual for here, then one of two things happened. In my opinion either the strong head wind or a micro up burst caused it to pitch upward at what looked to be at least 85deg. Nose up or the cargo shifted to the rear and caused it to nose up. It then did what all swept wing aircraft do in a stall and pitched left at about 1200 Ft AGL, then it seemed like the pilot tried to correct and it pitched right and headed for the ground just before impact. It looked like it had flattened out to nearly level but had very little or no forward speed – what followed was the ground shook, followed by a large ball of fire and a huge black cloud of smoke. I truly wish I had not seen this, but I did, and my prayers and thoughts go out to all involved – both on board and the family and loved ones of the crew and passengers.
alvin says:
April 29, 2013 at 3:14 pm
as scott says thats what exactly happened. i saw the same thing as well…
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Teresa says:
April 29, 2013 at 3:36 pm
As Scott stated, I witnessed the same thing. My prayers go to the family members for their loss of loved ones in this horrific accident. God rest their souls.
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Garrett says:
April 29, 2013 at 4:33 pm
I’m guessing “micro UP burst” was a typo? Micro bursts are downdrafts associated with thunderstorms.
My condolences to the families of the crew and anyone that knew them.
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Scott says:
April 29, 2013 at 4:48 pm
I guess i should have said micro burst. You are correct, Garrett, but the result of a micro burst is the downward burst of air, the part that I am talking about is the outflow front or the horizontal vortex. Either way, it is not relevant at all. The plane crashed and people died, but I am very proud of you for pointing this out Garrett … let me guess you work as a Maint. Controller?
john says:
April 30, 2013 at 3:31 pm
classic pitch up due to shifting load at rotation which then puts the aircraft out of balanced flight. Many accidents have happened this way with cargo flights. Lost a friend years ago flying a small Beech-18 with newspapers in it. Same thing with pitch up, stall and crash.
Bless those that were lost.
the Loadstar » National Air Cargo mourns loss of crew in Bagram crash