U.S. to Probe China Cargo Plane Crash

November 30th, 2009

Alternate headline: Cargo Plane Belonging to CIA Cutout Crashes in China

Via: Wall Street Journal:

A Zimbabwe-registered cargo plane that crashed in flames on takeoff from Shanghai’s international airport, killing three American crew members, wasn’t carrying sensitive goods, a senior executive with the plane’s operator said.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter aircraft was carrying “general cargo, such as electronics,” and “nothing of any sensitive nature,” said Simon Clarke, chief operating officer of Zimbabwe-based Avient Ltd.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said the plane was bound for Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, when it crashed Saturday morning in relatively good weather. Early reports indicated the tail of the three-engine jet may have struck the ground before the crash. A team of U.S. investigators, led by an expert on engines, was preparing to head to China in the next two to three days.

Mr. Clarke said the plane had entered Avient’s fleet only about a week before it crashed. But “the crew had all flown extensively on the type” of plane. “It remains very sketchy,” he said. “We are obviously working with the Zimbabwe and Chinese civil aviation authorities to ascertain what went wrong.”

Mr. Clarke said the seven-person crew included Americans and people of other nationalities. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said three Americans were killed and one was injured. Xinhua identified the injured crew members as nationals of the U.S., Indonesia, Belgium and Zimbabwe. The survivors were in stable condition in Shanghai hospitals Sunday.

Xinhua quoted Shanghai aviation authorities on Sunday as saying they had found the plane’s flight data recorder.

Shanghai television showed billows of black smoke rising high in the sky after the crash. Footage also showed the wrecked MD-11 fuselage lying in a wet field adjacent to the airport. Firefighters sprayed foam on the mangled wreckage. TV pictures showed a survivor, said to be an American co-pilot, on a hospital bed and breathing through a mask but alert enough to say “thank you.”

Avient, whose Web site says it was founded in 1993, has drawn scrutiny in the past because of accusations that it has supplied weapons to conflicts in Africa. A United Nations report in 2002 said Avient had been involved in illegal actitivies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The British government later investigated the charges but didn’t find evidence supporting them. The company has since been accused of other illicit activities by think-tanks that investigate conflicts around the world.

Mr. Clarke at Avient denied all accusations against the company. “We do not carry arms and ammunition,” he said.

Avient said on its Web site that it operated the MD-11 and that “preliminary information indicates that the accident occurred on takeoff.”

Mr. Clarke said the plane was a chartered freight flight carrying “general consumer goods such as electronics and clothes.” He said that, as with most cargo flights, the freight was arranged through brokers. He declined to name the company’s clients.

The aircraft’s tail struck the ground on takeoff, graphics shown on Shanghai television suggested. One illustration of the incident on local TV showed the plane striking a building shortly after takeoff. Xinhua said the plane hit lighting structures on the ground.

Local television and other local media said the accident closed runways at Shanghai Pudong International Airport and led to widespread flight delays.

The accident is the second fatal crash of a cargo plane on takeoff within six weeks. On Oct. 21, an aging Boeing 707 operated by Sudan Airways crashed on departure from Sharjah Airport in the United Arab Emirates. All six people onboard were killed. The cause of the accident remains unclear.

As is typical in any major accident involving a widely used jetliner, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board on Saturday said it was sending a team of government and industry crash investigators. Including experts on engines, structures and operations, the team will be led by veteran safety board investigator Bill English. United Technology Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney engine-making unit also will have a team representative.

One Response to “U.S. to Probe China Cargo Plane Crash”

  1. LykeX says:

    There’s this idea that the most important information should be placed first in an article.
    I can’t help but wonder why the one thing that the Wall Street Journal most wants us to know is that the plane didn’t carry anything sensitive.

    What that other thing about protesting too much?

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