El Al 747 - Amsterdam
 

Anyone with any more information?


El Al plane loses fuselage parts above Netherlands
By Reuters

AMSTERDAM - An El Al cargo plane lost several metal parts above the Netherlands on Sunday, bringing back the painful memories of the country's biggest air disaster when an Israeli cargo jet crashed in Amsterdam in 1992.

An official at the Dutch aviation police said on Monday the cargo plane, flying from New York to Frankfurt, had lost a few cover plates from the fuselage.

The plane landed safely at Schiphol airport at 1600 GMT on Sunday and appeared to have suffered a burst tire as well.

Pamela Kuijpers, spokeswoman at the airport, told Dutch television that the plane was a Boeing 747-200. Asked whether there had been danger of an accident, she said; "Never."

The plane has been towed away after landing for checks and an investigation is under way.

People living in the neighborhood of the airport near Amsterdam had called in with reports of seeing parts falling off the plane. Two metal plates have been recovered.

In 1992, a cargo plane of the Israeli state-owned airline crashed shortly after take-off on two high-rise housing blocks in the Bijlmermeer suburb of Amsterdam, killing 43 people.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I saw this guy coming low over our house (20KMS south from SPL) yesterday afternoon in a fairly sharp left bank but then we are used to El Al guys doing strange manoeuvres.

Local English News gave following report - village of Langeaar is about 10kms short of SPL. Plane is appearantly now able to continue its journey.

AMSTERDAM — An investigation has been launched after an El Al cargo jet landed at Schiphol Airport at 6pm on Sunday with a burst tyre
and missing two pieces of its fuselage that fell off mid-flight from New York.

The Israeli plane was en route from New York to Frankfurt, but landed safely in Amsterdam, where El Al's European headquarters is located.
No one was injured in the incident.

Residents near Schiphol reported on Sunday that they saw two pieces of the plane fall to the ground,
and an inspection upon the plane's arrival at the airport revealed part of its outer body had broken off.

An 80cm by 80cm piece was later found in Langeraar, near Leiden on the North and South Holland provincial border,
while a smaller L-shaped piece has not yet been recovered.

Aviation police also said one of the plane's tyres had burst upon take-off from New York,
but the plane landed safely despite the problem, Dutch associated press ANP reported on Monday.

The Council for Transport Safety has launched an investigation into the incident
and a spokesman said the cause of the damage to the plane has not yet been determined.
Standard procedure requires the plane temporarily remain on the ground.

A.J.Baker

"but then we are used to El Al guys doing strange manoeuvers"

Could you please clarify this rather bold statement and who
is "we" ?

Looks pretty difficult to me to judge this from the ground up.

Rgds

The El el aircraft has been on the ground for several hours and was released by a technical engineer of El al (based in AMS). No single person of the aviation authority has ordered to perform an investigation of this "incident". A spokesman said for television that this was a normal "incident" and it was not necessary to organize an investigation. The engineer performed his job as the handbook subscribes. Many questions raised up from the public and former parlement members. They all remembered the crash of the 747 11 years ago in Amsterdam.

Loosing two fibre glass panels is hardly akin to the 1992 separation of No3 & No4 engines and the subsequent crash of the aircraft into a residential building, resulting in 51 fatalities. Four on board and 47 on the ground; so what's the big deal? Another journalistic sensation.

I saw the aircraft in question on the Southern Taxiway, he was towed to the Romeo apron where checks were carried out.
It's looks a bit of an old dog, I've seen it a few times.
Hope all on board were ok!!

Which one?
 

Which one was it then?

The old white "CARGO" titled or the painted Elal Blue & White colour scheme also with "CARGO" titles?

Get these thru LHR now and again......