ZSPD Cargo Plane Crash
 

Cargo plane from Zimbabwe, not many details. CNN has one picture of smoke billowing.

Zimbabwe cargo plane crashes at Shanghai airport | World news | guardian.co.uk

A bit more details... Sad to hear.
 

A Zimbabwe-registered cargo plane crashed shortly after taking off Saturday from a Shanghai airport with seven crew members aboard, state media and witnesses said.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that four crew members, all foreigners, were injured. The status of the other three was not immediately clear.
China Central Television showed billowing thick black smoke at the scene, with police officers blocking closer access.
A reporter from Shanghai's Oriental Satellite Television told CCTV that the tail of the plane had broken in two or three parts, and hundreds of firefighters were spraying fire retardants on the plane.
The reporter said the four injured people were conscious.
A man answering phones at the Pudong International Airport cargo information office who requested anonymity confirmed the crash but had no details.
Xinhua said the crash occurred at 7:40 a.m. (2340 GMT Friday).
In June 2006, a Chinese military plane crashed in eastern China's Anhui province, killing all 40 people aboard.

I wonder why the media is not picking up this story, or why the Chinese government are not allowing them to. The crash has closed the airport, seems pretty big news to me.

I checked for Zimbabwe registered aircraft, the only thing close is Avient, which has 3 DC-10s (easily confused for an MD11 to the untrained eye) and one MD11 (recent acquisition that database shows as still being parked).
:confused:

No confusion here, it was freshly painted Avient MD11.

More info here, looks like it was an Avient aircraft.

Zimbabwe Cargo Plane Crashes In China, Killing 3 - CBS News

Mixture of stories out there......
 

Three staff have died and four others were injured after a cargo plane caught fire at the Shanghai Pudong airport Saturday, local officials said, Xinhua reported.

The blaze occurred at 8:12 a.m., when the plane veered off the runway before it took off, they said.

All the seven foreign staff were rushed to the People's Hospital of Pudong New Area, where three of died and one is in serious condition as of 11:00 a.m.

The blaze was put out at about 9:00 a.m., rescuers said.

The plane, SMJ 324, was registered at Zimbabwe. It was scheduled to fly from Shanghai to Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan.

Trend News: Three dead, four injured in cargo plane crash in Shanghai Airport

EDIT#1: If you look at the news reports, none of them say MD-11 that I could find.

NewsNow: Airlines

EDIT#2: The only places that are saying MD-11 are the blogs and "other" Aviation Themed Websites.

Only one place saying it was an MD-11.

©ú³ø§Y®É·s»Dºô-¨â©¤---³f¾÷¼Y¤W®ü¾÷³õ Â_¦¨¨âºI (10:38)-20091128

That was after translation.

No more uncertainties, it was freshly painted MD 11.

Stock picture, unrelated to the accident.

AP used to say it was a MD11, now changed to "Zimbabwean-registered" instead
Xinhua doesn't mention the type either, but does mention the flight (SMJ234) so it appears definitively Avient.

(edited to add)
CCTV says tail hit ground before breaking apart. No context or additional info. Take with usual pound of salt.

Avient
 

From Avient Limited Specialising in Air Cargo to Africa and the World

(They don't HAVE any MD-11s it seems, but 3 DC-10s, a 727 and an IL-76.)

Correction: It seems they just started operating an MD-11, so it could very well be that MD-11. It seems it was, N408SH on temporary US reg while being painted, see picture and further comments below.

Press Release

28 November 2009

An Avient Aviation operated aircraft was involved in an accident at approximate 00:16 GMT today while the aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD11 Freighter , was operating a charter freight flight from Pudong International Airport in China.

Preliminary information indicates that the accident occurred on takeoff from Pudong International Airport. The aircraft was carrying a crew of 7.

At this time, the full resources of Avient's accident response team have been mobilised and will be devoted to cooperating with all authorities responding to the accident.

At this time no further information is available. Avient will continue to release additional information as it is confirmed.


Fleet:

Avient owns its fleet of DC10-30Fs and an IL-76, with access to Boeing 727-200Fs. Our aircraft are all maintained to the highest possible safety standards by our own highly skilled maintenance team, any aircraft that we charter is pre-checked to make sure that it conforms to Avient's strict safety requirements.

All of our air crew are trained to the highest possible standard and undergo regular training and performance reviews to ensure the continued quality of excellence that Avient require.

ZSPD Notams of 28 NOV 2009
 

What runway did they use? Here are the NOTAMs as of right now, those updated or created today.


A8588/09 - RWY17L/35R CLSD DUE TO MAINT. DURING CLOSURE PERIOD, ACFT SHALL
CROSS RWY17L/35R VIA TWY A1,TWY D1,TWY A3 AND TWY D3 ONLY. 28 NOV 05:53 2009
UNTIL 29 NOV 02:00 2009 ESTIMATED. CREATED: 28 NOV 05:55 2009



A8587/09 - ILS FOR RWY17L U/S. 28 NOV 04:20 2009 UNTIL 05 DEC 03:55 2009 ESTIMATED. CREATED:
28 NOV 04:22 2009



A8585/09 - ILS FOR RWY35R U/S. 28 NOV 04:19 2009 UNTIL 05 DEC 03:55 2009 ESTIMATED. CREATED:
28 NOV 04:19 2009



A8583/09 - RWY17R/35L FOR TAKE-OFF ONLY. 28 NOV 03:59 2009 UNTIL 28 NOV 15:59 2009 ESTIMATED.
CREATED: 28 NOV 03:59 2009



A8582/09 - VOR/DME 'PUD'/116.9MHZ/CH116X U/S. 28 NOV 03:55 2009 UNTIL 05 DEC 03:45 2009
ESTIMATED. CREATED: 28 NOV 03:57 2009



A8577/09 - 1.TWY F CLSD.
2.TWY E BTN TWY F1 AND TWY T3 CLSD.INTERSECTION BTN TWY F1 AND TWY
E CLSD. 1700-2230 7,9,11 DEC, 07 DEC 17:00 2009 UNTIL 11 DEC 22:30 2009. CREATED:
28 NOV 02:47 2009



A8575/09 - TWY B BTN TWY A8 AND TWY B4 CLSD. 07 DEC 17:00 2009 UNTIL 07 DEC 22:30 2009.
CREATED: 28 NOV 02:39 2009



A8573/09 - RWY16/34 CLSD. 1700-2230 7,9,11 DEC, 07 DEC 17:00 2009 UNTIL 11 DEC 22:30 2009.
CREATED: 28 NOV 02:36 2009



A8572/09 - 1.TWY C BTN TWY C1 AND TWY C4,BTN TWY C4 AND TWY C9,BTN TWY C9
AND TWY C12 CLSD.INTERSECTIONS BTN TWY C12 AND TWY C CLSD.
2.TWY D BTN TWY D1 AND TWY D3,BTN TWY D3 AND TWY D9,BTN TWY D9 AND
TWY D11 CLSD.INTERSECTIONS BTN TWY D11 AND TWY D CLSD. 0700-1300 7,9,11 DEC,
07 DEC 07:00 2009 UNTIL 11 DEC 13:00 2009. CREATED: 28 NOV 02:36 2009



A8571/09 - RWY17R/35L CLSD DUE TO MAINT. DURING CLOSURE PERIOD, ACFT SHALL
CROSS RWY17R/35L VIA TWY C4,TWY D3,TWY C9 AND TWY D9 ONLY. 0700-1300 7,9,11
DEC, 07 DEC 07:00 2009 UNTIL 11 DEC 13:00 2009. CREATED: 28 NOV 02:33 2009

LGB

Seems they do have an MD-11F

Z-BAV s/n 48408 delivered to Avient 20/11/2009 ex HL7372/PR-LGD

BRgds

Yes, I just saw that, and corrected my post above. In any case, it does not make it more or less sad :(

Presumably it is this one

http://images3.jetphotos.net/img/2/4...1256528444.jpg

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/NewsIma..._420986_02.jpg

The small aircraft photo above in 11Fan post was too small. I suggest it was a MD11. I saw thick black smoke billow from the crash site for more than 30 minutes.

Weather today was good in ZSPD. 10km vis, wind calm maybe 10 knots at the time.

Airport closed for about an hour and a half.

Aircraft crash site was approx 500 m (my estimate) past the runway end

Avient website cfms MD11
Avient Limited Specialising in Air Cargo to Africa and the World

Reply to LGB

Maybe RWY 35R

The Dash 8 photo was clearly just journalistic sloppiness.

It was, it seems, an MD11, in which case the acft had been in service for barely over a week.

Will this mean the end near for SMJ-ops into EC ? I never quite understood why so many African countries are on the blacklist these days, yet Zimbabwe not. Hard to believe they are any better organized than Angola or Congo or....

According to Aviation Herald it was indeed Z-BAV.Overran runway on departure to Bishkek and caught fire but suggestion is only 3 out of 7 on board are fatalities.

Looks like it was ex-Varig:


http://images3.jetphotos.net/img/2/4...1256528444.jpg