Sharjah: Six people have been killed after a cargo plane crashed on take-off from Sharjah Airport.
The Sudanese registered plane, a Boeing 707, believed to belong to Azza Air veered sharply to the right after take-off and flipped before crashing.
Sharjah Airport has closed its runway as a result of the crash.
Khaled Al Qassimi, director of civil aviation at Sharjah airport, said rescue personnel haven't so far found any of the crew.
"The place is contained. All the fires are extinguished," said Al Qassimi, "we are the picking up bits and pieces for the investigation."
Eyewitnesses have reported seeing the plane "flip and burst into flames."
Artem Filippov who works at the Sharjah Airport Free Zone said: "We heard an explosion and went out to check what happened and saw plumes of smoke rising. By the time we reached near the accident area police cordoned off the area."
Nagesh Vallabhan, an employee in a company at Sharjah Airport Free Zone, said: "It was obvious the plane was about to crash and it did. The plane was tilted to the right - it looked like it was unbalanced and about to crash and in a few minutes it crashed to the ground and exploded.
"We saw flames of fire and smoke … it exploded with debris seen around the area of the crash. I am not sure but I don’t think anyone survived the crash. I honestly doubt it,” he added. More follows...
An Azza Transport Boeing 707 freighter on behalf of the Sudanese government, freight flight from Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) bound for the Sudan with 6 crew, crashed shortly after takeoff in clear weather from Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) and burst into flames at around 15:30L (11:30Z).
All 6 crew on board have perished, UAE officials reported. All fires have been extinguished, no bodies have yet been found.
The airport is currently closed, although the airplane went down about 2nm outside the perimeter of the airport.
Witnesses on the ground report, that the airplane may have lost parts before it lost height. The airplane subsequently veered sharply to the right and impacted ground.
the aircraft, a Azza Transport B-707-320C was operated by Sudan Airways on lease from Azza Air.
Sharjah AP lists the flight as: STD 21-Oct 09:00 TO Khartoum BY Sudan Airways FLT NBR SUD 2241
...veered sharply to the right after take-off and flipped before crashing.
The aircraft was a Boeing 707-320C, according to a Sudan Airways official. Five of the six crew members worked for Azza Transport, the official said. The loadmaster, who handled the cargo on the plane, worked for Sudan Airways.
I was at OMSJ at the time of the crash in an office at the SFZ, a fellow pilot friend was smoking outside & saw the A/C as it rotated it appeared as he mentioned to have pitched up to 40 degrees nose up.. and there was smoke coming from ENG 4 ..all of sudden the A/C started veering & turning right with the nose piointing to the ground. All of sudden we all hear a bang & we come outside and see big black smoke at the end of RWY 12. Went close to the crash site with the friend as we can't get to close ..everything was taped up quickly by police. But sadly nothing was left from what we can see from a distance!! Police were saying no survivors. Sad ending!! I heard this is the 4th B.707 crash for this Sudaneese airline. Can't speculate....but I would think overweight T/O. Active RWY was 30 at the time of the crash. The A/C went down just before the Golf Course. No idea if there are more casulties on the gound.
amazing those civilian people gathering just a few meters from the crash
This is normal around here - everyone hoping to see some bodies. Just like at any road accident. You slow down and hope to see a body or two. That's how the "people" think here.
Just to be curious, how "people" do think where you come from?
Sorry I don't understand exactly it is what you're asking.
But as an indication, in this part of the world, your typical crash roadside scene is of jinglies standing around whipping out their phones to take photos of the bodies rather than keeping the f**k out of the way or, god forbid, actually helping out. Savages.
Well I just listened Sharjah's Minister of Aviation commenting about this crash and I've got to say that it was quite refreshing to have an 'official' on the spot and making accurate statements, which basically went along the lines of "A B707 crashed on take-off; we're investigating why this happened; unfortunately the crew all perished, though nobody else was involved; the aircraft type is licensed to fly in many countries, including the UAE; many thanks to the emergency services for doing a good job".
Bloody shame all the same; a fine aircraft in it's day; and never fogetting that 6 fellow aviators went to work this morning and, well, the rest you know....
The 707,they can certainly be a handful when things go south, but when overgross and lose an engine, the only thing worse is to lose two engines on the same side. My condolences to their families, a damn shame.
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Pure speculation, but I suspect any engine problems were as a result of unusual attitudes and subsequent compressor stalls which earlt Jet engines were prone too.
were as a result of unusual attitudes and subsequent compressor stalls which earlt Jet engines were prone too.
Maybe, however I have nearly 6000 hours in Command in these airplanes, no compressor stalls experienced. Extreme nose up sounds like either.... Runaway stab (happened quite often, in my experience) altho, if caught quick enough, easily stopped, and trim established with split spoilers...
Mis-trim...or mis-loading,
Shifting cargo, altho unlikely here, as...if it goes thru the door, it goes on.
Video shows debris falling and impact. Seems like in this part of the world even the security cameras are after this kind of footages... which are quickly relayed by medias in other parts of the world.
