MyCargo 747-400F crashes into Kyrgyzstan village

A Turkish owned MyCargo 747-400F, registered TC-MCL slammed into a Kyrgyzstan village while attempting to land in bad weather at Manas airfield. All four crew members on board were killed, along with at least 32 people on the ground. The crash damaged at least 15 buildings in the village. The flight was being operated by Turkish Airlines, as flight TK6491. It was scheduled to land at Manas for fuel, enroute from Hong Kong to Istanbul. They apparently overshot the runway attempting to land.

The aircraft was built in 2003, and was delivered to Singapore Cargo. The aircraft was delivered new to Singapore in 2003, then stored at Victorville, California from Jan 2009-Jan 2010, when it was returned to service. It was stored again from August 2013 until September 2015. It was operated by Qatar Until December of last year, and delivered to Turkey four days ago.





Photos from the crash scene.

Videos from the scene.

www.aljazeera.com...
Turkish 747 crash.
indianexpress.com...

Wow those pictures really show destruction.

Do you think all the time that plane sat around in storage could have helped caused this? I know some things don't sit well when not in use. Guessing it may be the same for planes?

RIP to the victims. Prayers for the families.

No doubt a plane crashed there...

a reply to: onehuman

It could have played a role, but when it was returned to service it should have undergone a pretty extensive check, and maintenance period. The second time it was returned to service, it was ferried in Septermber, but didn't return to service until December. Weather was more likely a major role, as there was freezing fog at the time.

It appears that one crew member may have survived. They're reporting that there were five crew members on board, and four were killed. The airport says that 11 aircraft landed prior to the accident flight. The death toll ranges from 31 to 37, with 15 injured. At least 23 of the 43 homes in the village were damaged or destroyed.

What's damn shameful is this isn't going to get the attention it deserves. You'll have the inevitable "And this impacts me how?" folks or the "It's an old bloc country, who cares" folks who don't have a shred of sympathy for people perishing like this in, as freak a weather accident as it was. It can happen to any neighborhood bordering any major metro elsewhere, that's the take-away. One minute, tending the kids while hearing the incoming flights, the next, gone

Edit: To clarify why I feel so strongly, we used to live under an incoming flight path for Tampa International, the sounds of the planes were constant, and so was the fear that one could smash into our neighborhood. It's not something you ever really consider yourself until you live close enough to be worried, but that doesn't excuse ambivalence, this was horrific and despite fearing exactly this for years, I can't even begin to imagine what those people on the ground went through in their last seconds.

The aircraft was attempting to go around at the time of the crash. For some reason they didn't climb, and impacted the ground 3600 feet beyond the end of the runway. Now they're reporting 4 crew on board, with all four being killed.

a reply to: Zaphod58
For what reasons make get they of not climbed after over shooting the runway? Lack of power after attempting the landing?

I was going to say a load shift but they would of affected the plane prior to the crash anyway

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

Ice. They were descending through freezing fog at the time, and may have suffered a power rollback, or icing on the wings behind the deicing boots.

Here's my 2 cents. Clear ice add huge amounts of weight to the airplane and doesn't come off with deicing/anti icing gear.

The crew was at low altitude during the approach phase with the engines deice equipment on. This reduces each engine's output a few percent times four. Now on a rejected landing with a huge amount of structural ice and lower engine power reducing any climb performance.

As always, this is just my opinion.

a reply to: buddah6

That's my thinking as well. They have found a couple types of icing where the water hits the leading edge, rolls back onto the wing itself, where there is no deicing system, then freezes.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Second photo at link with thick ice on trees would certainly support severe wing icing as an issue.

Nasty situation.

Weather at the time was reported as visibility just under 500 feet, RVR of 1800 feet in freezing fog conditions, vertical visibility of 100 feet with a temp of 15, dew point of 14.

METAR Weather report:
01:00 UTC / 07:00 local time:
UCFM 160100Z VRB01MPS 0050 R26/0300N FZFG VV001 M09/M10 Q1023 R26/19//60 NOSIG
01:30 UTC / 07:30 local time:
UCFM 160130Z VRB01MPS 0150 R26/0550 FZFG VV001 M09/M10 Q1024 R26/19//60 NOSIG

aviation-safety.net...

They're reporting now that the wreckage is scattered over 3,000 feet around the village, and 30 of 43 homes were destroyed. Some are saying entire families were killed in their beds.

I have to be honest here, I'm pretty disgusted by the lack of coverage. Just because it crashed in a 'Stan". WTF.

Thoughts are out to the crew and the people on the ground who lost their lives

It possible as Zaphod noted that its storage time contributed but not likely IMHO. Those birds get an extensive check to return to flight and its not uncommon these days to park airframes out int he Mojave and return them to service as dictated by fuel price, load factors etc.

Several things to consider in the coming days

Crew. Turkish airlines just took over the craft and crew experience may be a factor. If the aircraft was wet leased with the crew then they may have had more time in type. After looking at Turkish Cargo (subsidiary of Turkish Airlines) they have previously only operated Airbus cargo aircraft

Load: I agree that a load shift is unlikely but you never know. If the pilot initiated a go around and there was a load shift it would be catastrophic. It could have been overloaded with cargo as well which would have impacted the aircrafts ability to climb. That being said, it was landing for fuel and should have been lighter........

Ice: Its looking like this will be a combo type incident. If the pilot initiated a go around with too much weight on the aircraft it may have not had the reserve power to climb as the fans need time to spool up (we also saw this with the Asiana crash at SFO.)

Back to the crew: If they became saturated with tasks (and crew resource management broke down) during the approach and were dealing with weather its possible that they missed part of the checklist, wrong flaps setting, wrong throttle settings, etc and when they hit the TOGO switch, they left the gear down etc etc etc

a reply to: FredT

The crew and aircraft belonged to ACT aka MyCargo, which operated A300 Freighters until 2012, when they transitioned to an all 747 fleet. They lost TC-ACB, and A300B4-203(F) to a gear collapse in 2010, but they've had a pretty good safety record prior to this flight. The average age of their fleet is almost 20 years.

Hell I may have been in that village at one time or known someone that worked on base that lived there.

Freezing fog and just fog in general is a major issues in the winter months at the airport. Many a night we had aircraft that we couldnt see on the ramp taxing up to us until they were less then 50ft from away.

The Captain had 10,821 hours, with 833 in 747s. The First Officer had 5,910 hours with 1,771 on 747s. The crew was off duty for almost 70 hours in Hong Kong. They departed with 171,200 pounds of cargo. According to ACT, the current total stands at 37 dead, including the four crew members.

www.flightglobal.com...

originally posted by: Zaphod58
The Captain had 10,821 hours, with 833 in 747s. The First Officer had 5,910 hours with 1,771 on 747s. The crew was off duty for almost 70 hours in Hong Kong.

Assuming they followed SOP and got adequate rest the crew were experienced flyers with ?low but okay time in type.

Also if the company is correct it was not at maximum load and minimal weight from fuel.

a reply to: FredT

It sounds like the Captain only transitioned in the last couple of years. That's not a bad amount of time in type though. He should have been able to land the aircraft ok. I'm willing to bet there was icing on the back of the wing, near the flaps.

The ADS-B data is interesting. According to the official statements, the aircraft crashed at approximately 0720 (0120Z). The final recorded position, according to FR24 was shown at 2350 feet AMSL (the airport altitude is 2090 feet), at approximately 0117Z. That's roughly three minutes before they impacted the ground according to the official timeline.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: FredT

It sounds like the Captain only transitioned in the last couple of years. That's not a bad amount of time in type though. He should have been able to land the aircraft ok. I'm willing to bet there was icing on the back of the wing, near the flaps.

Are you thinking added weight or inference with the control surfaces? If it was weight and they were using the autothrottle there would/should be some sort of alarm noting that more thrust was required to maintain the desired glideslope than normal??

I wonder if they practice icing scenarios in the simulator?

a reply to: FredT

I'm thinking disrupting lift, possibly only on one side based on the wreckage pictures. There's also the ADS-B data that I added to my previous post that is interesting.