Bagram 747 Crash Update

Via Cousin Bill

New information from inside sources

FYI, I'm in IBT Go-Team training in DC with NTSB and others, and Director of NTSB Office of Aviation Safety briefed us on this accident today. This is accurate info from NTSB source today:

The CVR/FDR on the accident aircraft stopped working on rotation; engine/fuselage/tail parts were located on the runway. A total of (7) MRAP armored vehicles were being carried as cargo. NAC was the only civil DoD contract carrier who will carry these vehicles. Aircraft loaded at Camp Bastian , not Bagram, was stopping in Bagram for fuel. Aircraft uplifted 48,000 lbs of fuel at Bargram for flight to DXB. After impact, 1 MRAP vehicle was deeper in the impact crater than any aircraft/fuselage parts.

A follow up to what I passed on last week. Sounds pretty valid.

Had lunch today with an Aviation investigator/ attorney friend. He has some new intel that could shed some light on this accident. There were evidently 5 huge military vehicles weighing 33 metric tons each, with 5' diameter wheels. Perhaps the last one did not have parking brake set and not in gear. If so it would have easily jumped the chocks, made for normal sized vehicle wheels. The straps designed for holding palates, were not strong enough to hold 72,000 pounds of rolling weight and the aft CG was way over exceeded causing the catastrophic pitch up. 

He also mentioned that the calculus of that much weight on the floor of a normal B 747-400 F would have exceeded the limitation of 280,000 lbs, by 90,000 pounds, but probably not a factor. If the vehicle/s had penetrated the aft pressure bulkhead. it is also possible all or some of the 4 hydraulic systems might have been compromised as they run through that area to power the empennage flight controls. Unreal to watch. Speculation is a load shift. Hard to imagine a load shifting that much. Bagram Airbase Afghanistan.