747 Crash in Afghanistan
 

Apparent load shift. Speculation is that the plane had a bunch of military vehicles in it that came loose and slid to the back of the cargo hold and caused the nose-up stall.

I've read 7 or 8 people were on board, all died. I also read most the crew was from Wisconsin... so immediately thought of Austin and Oshkosh... a bunch of military vehicles and crew from Wisconsin? I hope everything is okay with your coworkers Austin. Then again, it's likely the crew is 100% military and just based in WI, which is why they're all from the same place.

Either way... it's a scary and tragic crash. Hard to believe something that massive can just fall out of the sky because a strap broke or something.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-...n-afghanistan/

Scratch what I said earlier about Wisconsin... the crew was from Michigan. I get all those parts of South Canada mixed up.

Saw this the other day. Crazy and very sad.

:( very sad.

all cause of cargo moving around? believable but damn ... you figure if you go to war you have to worry about being shot, not straps getting loose / breaking.

:lol:

I saw the crash vid a couple days ago, it's horrible. Pretty surreal to watch an aircraft that big just hang there almost motionless in the air.

I'd be curious to know exactly what the cargo manifest was. If vehicles broke loose inside on liftoff that would certainly do it - even just one armored HMMWV is 12000+lbs and that's about the lightest truck they use. I haven't heard of loading vehicles into 747s before though. Our M-ATVs went into Afg on military birds like the C-17.

I was reading that the departure angle out of Bagram is pretty steep too. May have led to a very abrumpt shift as well.

There was a similair National 747 parked on the tarmac at RNO a few weeks ago, such a great looking plane.

Load shift is the scariest thing for cargo pilots. Seeing a 747 stall like that is just surreal.