747-400 crash in Afghanistan.

[zraver]

RIP to the crew.

'Our grief is indescribable': Tragic stories emerge of the seven Americans killed in fiery 747 crash - including one who was married just two weeks ago
Six crew members identified as Michigan residents - Jamie Brokaw, Rinku Summan, Gary Stockdale, Michael Sheets, Brad Hasler and Jeremy Lipka
Mr Hasler was married just two weeks ago - and had a baby on the way; Sheets was engaged and due to marry later this year
Seventh victim, Timothy Garrett, was from Kentucky
Taliban claimed responsibility for crash outside Bagram Airfield, but military says no insurgent activity was reported in area at the time
Plane was owned by private company National Air Cargo
By THOMAS DURANTE, REUTERS REPORTER and ANNA EDWARDS
PUBLISHED: 14:01 EST, 30 April 2013 | UPDATED: 09:57 EST, 1 May 2013
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The cargo plane crew members who perished in a fiery crash in Afghanistan included a man who married just two weeks ago and another who was engaged, it has been revealed.
Seven American crew members of the private cargo jet were killed on Monday when the Dubai-bound plane crashed shortly after take-off from Bagram air base near the Afghan capital of Kabul.
Heart-stopping dashcam footage of the crash hit the web hours later, showing the Boeing 747-400 climbing steadily before plummeting back to the ground in a massive explosion.


Read more: Boeing 747 crash video: Tragic stories emerge of the seven Americans killed | Mail Online
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The video is heart stopping.

[Jimmy]

Supposedly the crew knew what happened and reported a load shift to the tower. The video is absolutely unreal.

[S2]

Sad and terribly painful to watch. They never had a chance.

[Stitch]

Sad and terribly painful to watch. They never had a chance.

Agreed; once the load shifts at that (low) speed and altitude there is, unfortunately, no way out of that "coffin corner". It looks like they finally regained control of the aircraft after rolling it to the right, but there wasn't enough time (or altitude) to get the airspeed back up. Theoretically, they might've regained control if they'd had enough altitude (I'm guessing 10,000'+), but 1000' isn't enough. A conventional tail-heavy aircraft is virtually uncontrollable; any increase in the angle of attack decreases the airspeed, and vice-versa, and there's usually no way out out of that "death spiral", short of a massive infusion of thrust (which was, obviously, unavailable to the 747-400).

Video reminds me of the Fairchild B-52 crash in 1994; the aircraft reaches a point of no return, and it hurts to see the result.

[Deltacamelately]

Painful to watch.

Rest in Peace.

[lemontree]

I saw the video of the crash....the plane just fell. Very tragic for the crew and their families.

[dave lukins]

Horrific...and worse for the families to watch. I think one of the frames shows liquid coming from the rear just prior to crash. I assume this was an attempt to jettison some fuel.

[USSWisconsin]

A tragic loss. Heartbreaking.

RIP to the victims, my sympathies to the loved ones.

[chanjyj]

Rip.

[Jimmy]

And now a KC-135. Three crashes in two weeks for CENTAF; I'm curious to see what they do about (it's going to be a mass email from the 3-star).

[Aryajet]

Horrifying and heart wrenching to watch, specially if you are or have been connected to aviation, Chogy will attest to that! RIP to all those those young me who lost their lives in such a tragic way.

I agree with Stitch, if the pilot had even 5000 ft more altitude he could pull out of it. He managed to bring the nose down and level the wings but sadly ground was too close and not much lift left on the wings.

[Chogy]

Horrifying and heart wrenching to watch, specially if you are or have been connected to aviation, Chogy will attest to that! RIP to all those those young me who lost their lives in such a tragic way.

I agree with Stitch, if the pilot had even 5000 ft more altitude he could pull out of it. He managed to bring the nose down and level the wings but sadly ground was too close and not much lift left on the wings.

It's hard to say... if it was a load shift, it is entirely possible to take the center of gravity outside the envelope, such that the airplane cannot be flown. It would remain uncontrollable, and no amount of altitude would save them. This is especially true for a tail-heavy CG.

With a more moderate shift, then yes, it's possible they might have flown out of it.

When the nose pitched up violently, I'll guarantee both pilots had the yoke full forward. It just wasn't enough; the airplane stalled, potentially shifting the cargo forward after the nose pitched down. Very hard to watch.

[Jimmy]

Rumor has it the crew reported a load shift to the tower just after rotation....it was carrying 5 MRAPs, so it wouldn't take much of that to shift. One breaking free would be very bad news.

[Stitch]

Rumor has it the crew reported a load shift to the tower just after rotation....it was carrying 5 MRAPs, so it wouldn't take much of that to shift. One breaking free would be very bad news.

I'm guessing if one broke free, it might've also dislodged the others; kind of a domino effect. I'm wondering if the Loadmaster missed something . . . . .

[Jimmy]

Even if only one broke free, that's somewhere between 14 and 16 tons rolling around. I'm assuming it's the normal MRAP, not the monstrous 24-ton things.