As soon as I saw this story, I knew it would take off all over the blogosphere. A slow news Sunday combined with a jumbo jet crash in Europe will do that.
Such is the case with the aborted take off / wreck that was Kalitta Air's B747-209F, N704CK from Brussels, Belgium to Bahrain on May 25th.
This Boeing 747-209F started life in the spring of 1980. At Boeing, she was construction number 22299. Ordered by China Airlines, she first flew commercially in July of 1980, registered in China as B-1894. She flew for 23 years for China Airlines before being sold to Kalitta Air in 2003. Flying for Kalitta, the venerable bird flew from the US to Europe and onward to the Middle East as part of Kalitta's all cargo operations. Many of which operate for the US Government on charter.
November Seven Zero Four Charlie Kilo, trundled down Brussels Zaventem Airport (EBBR) runway 02 around noon European time, (GMT+1) bound for Bahrain. Midway down runway 02 the air crew heard a loud bang,and prepared to reject the takeoff. Runway 02 is shorter than the others at EBBR by as much as 1000 ft. The result was an aborted takeoff with the aircraft coming to a stop some 300 feet after the end of the runway.
Charlie Kilo broke her back in 3 places in the resulting crash. Fortunately there was no fire and the 5 member crew escaped with minor injuries. Having done a little research for this article alone, the spine break of Charlie Kilo is a bit weird.
The flight was loaded with 76 metric tons of cargo. at least some of which was diplomatic, including diplomatic "pouch" traffic and an ambassadors automobile. So far there is no report on the condition of the cargo, or its further disposition.
Local Belgian authorities have campaigned previously to have runway 02 shut down due to its proximity to local communities. No doubt that effort will now be renewed.In the meantime, Kalitta's 18 plane fleet of 747's is down one airplane.
Eric
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