National Airlines B747-400 Freighter (BCF) Down in Bagram, Afghanistan

An old friend of mine from my PBA days was scheduled to be the F/O on that flight! But, she knew all the people that were killed. Sad reminder of my own experience seeing a Beech 18 crash on take-off from HYA in 1981 due to a load shift. The fellow in the right-seat was a teenage buddy of mine. He 19-years old and riding along to get some free stick-time.
 
That video is just so ghastly. Made me cringe. The only thing I felt and thought is exactly the two words that the man taking the video spoke. Just breaks my heart and turns my insides over. That's going to be terrible for the friends, family and co-workers to watch. Makes me wish it didn't exist on the net for that reason. Just reminds you of the two things that freight dogs fear/live with the most, a cargo shift and fire.

With the gear still down, something went horribly wrong pretty quickly after rotation or if some of the load did shift, it most likely would have been during. I imagine they were occupied with trying to gain control and get the nose down, so the gear being down wouldn't even be a thought. That high AOA and the port wing begins to drop, she rolls back and then the dramatic/much greater drop of the other wing. There is just not enough forward airspeed at that point. It seems at the end that the crew got her level again after gaining some speed though. But not enough airspeed or altitude or time, and with the weight and size, they were sunk, just unrecoverable and so tragic. 7 lives lost in a few moments. Really, really awful. Poor guys. Damn, I am so sorry this happened and really feel for their families, friends and co-workers.
 
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That C-2 video is circa 1970 and could not happen again. Back then, there were no cargo cages like there are now. The cargo, either a ships generator or engines was tied down and shifted during the cat shot. With the cargo cage, it will not shift.
 
TallFlyer said:
There's a comment from an apparent eyewitness that describes the aftermath of a load shift in rather graphic detail. Also, at least one image out there of burning wreckage from a distance that suggests the wx was good.
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Looks to me like a load shift. That isn't wind shear.
 
As someone that has flying cargo in 747s in his bucket list that is chilling... RIP to the crew.

I will say, if I can gain anything from this is that I will take extra care and time to review the loading of my jet and keep an eye on the ground crew when they're throwing bags.
 
skypilot6 said:
It could be that the weight shift happened upon rotation and the crew was just trying to regain control and the gear was never brought up...
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Hell, I have enough trouble getting the gear up on time on a go around...but that's due to infrequency of practice...and the fact that its usually a goat rodeo.
 
Guys, let me just say that I am grief-stricken as you can imagine. These colleagues were creme of the crop professional aviators and I would trust my own life again to any of them in a second.

It is not my place to speak on anything official, including specific names or facts, and I won't. I would just ask that you could please keep 3 things in mind:
1. that video is extremely painful to watch 1 day out.
2. please undertake the excruciating process of letting slow time tick by so the FACTS can come out. This sadly could happen to any one of us, and we would afford you the same respect. Go easy with your speculation.
3. keep the families of my fallen crewmembers in your prayers. There are little kids without parents and young wives without husbands today.
 
Bumblebee said:
April was a terrible month over here....so many accidents. Hopefully it ends with May.
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I think we all already know that it won't... :(
RIP. Seeing this type of airplane in such distress is an eye opener and painful to boot.
I hope they were busy all the way to the ground, for realizing that the movie is over must be worse than dying itself. Those left behind are much worse off.

I always wondered how the Concorde crew fared emotionally in Paris, finding themselves still "flying" this smoking hole in the ground after realizing that nothing could save them... :(
 
Bumblebee said:
April was a terrible month over here....so many accidents. Hopefully it ends with May.
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Wishful thinking, but it won't. Wherever men climb into metal tubes to move fast and go high, there will be accidents. The reality of this is that every flight could be "the one." Every takeoff could be your last. Use that threat of imminent death to stay as sharp as you can, because on any flight you could meet your maker. Let this be a lesson to you. If it was a load shift, make damn sure your load is secure before takeoff - even if you have a big plane with a bunch of other people who help load it. If it was something else, when the investigation comes out, figure out a way not to let it happen to you. Most important thing is that we learn from this accident. If we don't learn from this then these guys died for nothing.
 
One of my coaches grew up with one of the FOs and was close to the family. The pain in his eyes today was unbearable.
 
After all the speculation about load shift, if we find out this was caused by something else entirely, people will still be a little more attentive to securing their loads than they were two days ago. That's not a bad thing.
 
staledog said:
I didn't hear him say anything. What was it?
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It's a ways into the video after he pulls over...can't type the word here but it's 4 letters. "oh" and then the word. I am not going to watch that video again though, so I can't give you the time moment/frame.
 
ljg said:
Guys, let me just say that I am grief-stricken as you can imagine. These colleagues were creme of the crop professional aviators and I would trust my own life again to any of them in a second.

It is not my place to speak on anything official, including specific names or facts, and I won't. I would just ask that you could please keep 3 things in mind:
1. that video is extremely painful to watch 1 day out.
2. please undertake the excruciating process of letting slow time tick by so the FACTS can come out. This sadly could happen to any one of us, and we would afford you the same respect. Go easy with your speculation.
3. keep the families of my fallen crewmembers in your prayers. There are little kids without parents and young wives without husbands today.
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I am sincerely so very very sorry for your loss. I know what it's like to lose fellow employees/crew in a crash/accident and it's just beyond horrible, unthinkable and so difficult to cope with and really shocking. I am heartfelt also to all of those on here who may have known the crew. There is not anything that one can say that really matters, or helps at a time like this, except for whatever it's worth, to reach out and let you know that we are here for you and that we do honestly care.
 
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