Looking down on the impact signature this morning it would appear that the a/c impacted the ground in an almost completely flat attitude.
Looking over the wreckage it could be seen that the cargo included at least 6 MRAPS (Mine resistant Ambush Proof) Vehicles.. these are large heavily armoured personnel carriers weighing up to around 25000 lb each.
As for all the discussion regarding 'tactical' departures, not being a 747 pilot I'm not qualified to comment other than to say that from our vantage point on the ground it does appear that some departing 'heavies' adopt a noticably higher pitch attitude on departure compared to what we see on typical pax flights at airfields around the world.... we carry out similar profiles when departing from 'sensitive' airfields located close to high ground where insurgents can gain a good vantage point. Also we adopt 'tactical' arrivals which involve arriving overhead at 6000ft agl, flaps approach, gear down then tight spiral (45deg) descent at gear limiting speed.. this keeps us within the confines of small airfields. No manufacturer is going to publish numbers for this type of operation and aircraft are ultimately at the disposal of the crew.
Tactical departures for large a/c were commonly practiced at Baghdad and to the best of my knowledge the A330 that took a hit on departure was not following the recommended 'tactical' departure.
I don't pretend to know the details of that one and would be interested to get the correct story.