National Airlines Flight 102 was a cargo flight operated by National Airlines between the British military base Camp Bastion in Afghanistan and Al Maktoum Airport in Dubai, with a refueling stop at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. On 29 April 2013, a Boeing 747-400 operating the flight crashed moments after taking off from Bagram, killing all seven people on board.
§Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 747-428BCF, registration N949CA, S/N 25630. It was manufactured in 1993 as a passenger aircraft and later modified for service as a freighter. At the time of the crash, the aircraft was flying on behalf of the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command.
§Accident
At the time of the crash the airline had been operating between Camp Bastion and Dubai for a month. The airline said that the accident aircraft had originated in Camp Bastion, and then refueled at Bagram. The aircraft had taken off from Bagram's runway 03 at 15:30 local time (11:00 UTC) and was climbing through 1,200 feet (370 m) when its nose rose sharply. According to an unconfirmed claim, a crew member was heard on VHF air-band radio reporting that some of the load of five heavy military vehicles in the cargo hold had shifted. The aircraft then stalled, crashed and exploded into a huge fireball on impact. The crash site was off the end of runway 03, within the perimeter of the airfield. All seven crew, all of whom were U.S. citizens, died: four pilots, two mechanics and a loadmaster.
A thunderstorm was also in the vicinity of Bagram at the time of the crash and the wind changed direction by 120° during a one-hour period commencing approximately 35 minutes before the crash. A dashboard camera on a car in the vicinity of the runway end recorded the crash and the video is available online. CNN stated that a government official speaking on the condition of anonymity said that the video was authentic.
§Investigation
The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority investigated the crash. The NTSB reported in a 30 April 2013 press release that representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Boeing Company would also provide technical expertise and aid in the investigation.
On 2 June 2013, investigators from the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation of Afghanistan confirmed the load shift hypothesis; three armoured vehicles and two mine-sweeping vehicles came loose and rolled backwards onto the rear bulkhead, damaging the aircraft and pushing the center of gravity outside its rear limit. Consequently, the aircraft became uncontrollable, pitched up sharply and stalled, and crashed moments later.
§Reactions
The crash interrupted the New Zealand Defence Force's (NZDF) withdrawal from Afghanistan, as it was only hours away from using another National Airlines aircraft to fly equipment out of the country; after the crash the NZDF indefinitely postponed using National Airlines for its airlift requirements.
§See also
- Boeing 747 hull losses
- Fine Air Flight 101
- Asiana Airlines Flight 991
- UPS Airlines Flight 6
- Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316
§Notes
§References
§External links
- "Information Related to Flight NCR102." National Air Cargo (Archive)
- "STATEMENT FROM NATIONAL AIR CARGO." EVA International Media. 2 May 2013. (Archive)
- Dashcam footage from vehicle - LiveLeak; Boeing 747 stall and crashes - YouTube
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