UPS 747 Freighter Crashes on Takeoff in Dubai, Kills Two
UPS 747 Freighter Crashes on Takeoff in Dubai, Kills Two
Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images
The Boeing Co. 747-400 was en route to Cologne, Germany, when it went down yesterday carrying two crew members, UPS said.
The Boeing Co. 747-400 was en route to Cologne, Germany, when it went down yesterday carrying two crew members, UPS said. Photographer: Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images
United Arab Emirates officials are trying to determine why a United Parcel Service Inc. freighter crashed after takeoff from Dubai, killing both pilots, following the crew’s report of fire in the cockpit.
The Boeing Co. 747-400 was en route to Cologne, Germany, when it went down yesterday carrying two crew members, UPS said. Rescue workers recovered the bodies, the General Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement on WAM, the official UAE newswire.
The jet couldn’t return to Dubai International Airport when controllers ordered a landing after being told of the fire, Saif al-Suwaidi, general manager of civil aviation, told state-run Dubai TV. The sky was clear and winds were about 5 miles per hour, according to aviation weather website CheckWX.com.
“Whatever happened, it must have been pretty catastrophic,” said Bill Waldock, a crash investigation professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board dispatched a team that included representatives of Atlanta-based UPS and Boeing. The crash site is in an unpopulated area near a UAE military compound, according to Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV, which said late yesterday that authorities were starting an investigation. The accident occurred about noon New York time.
“The pilot reported fire and smoke in the cockpit and was instructed to return to Dubai,” al-Suwaidi told Dubai TV. “After failing to land at the airport, the plane disappeared from radar screens.”
‘Workhorse’ Jet
Boeing’s four-engine 747-400 is a “workhorse” jet, which along with its predecessor models has been in service for about 40 years, Waldock said. UPS owns 12 of the 747-400 freighters, according to the company’s website. General Electric Co. made the engines on the UPS plane.
“This incident is very unfortunate and we will do everything we can to find the cause,” Bob Lekites, manager of UPS’s airline and international operations, said in a statement. UPS didn’t immediately confirm any casualties.
The company and its pilots union were included in the team sent by the NTSB, along with representatives from GE, the world’s biggest maker of jet engines, and the Federal Aviation Administration. UPS, the world’s biggest package-delivery company, makes 936 domestic flights daily and 755 outside the U.S., according to its website.
Freighter Deliveries
Boeing has delivered more than 100 747-400 freighters since the first plane entered service in November 1993 with Cargolux Airlines, according to the planemaker’s website.
The 747-400 has a maximum payload of 248,300 pounds (112,630 kilograms) and a maximum range of 5,112 miles (8,230 kilometers). The extended-range version of the plane can fly more than 5,700 miles.
UPS rose 52 cents to $67.64 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have risen 18 percent this year.
The CF6-80C2 engines on the 747-400 freighter are used on more than 1,100 aircraft worldwide, accumulating more than 160 million flight hours, GE said.
“Based on the engine fleet’s service history, we are not aware of operational issues that would hazard the continued safe flight of aircraft powered by these engines,” the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company said in a statement.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nayla Razzouk in Amman at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net; Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at maryc.s@bloomberg.net
Rate These Stories
Rate this Page