Kalitta Air Boeing 747-209F plane crash
Bogota, Colombia
Updated on
The Boeing 747 freighter took off from Bogota, Colombia, bound to Miami, Florida, USA, with 8 crewmembers onboard. The plane was operated by
Michigan-based company Kalitta Airlines as a wet lease to Centurion Air Cargo. The plane crashed minutes after takeoff in a farm field.
The Boeing 747 was carrying a cargo of flowers to Miami. Seconds after takeoff, the Boeing 747-200 of Kalitta suffered the failure of both outer engines,
after it took off from runway 31R.
All was absolutely normal until after rotation, then engine number 4 (outer right engine) failed. The crew initiated the "special engine out procedure",
that had been briefed and set up in the FMS fix page. Before the checklists could be worked or the airplane could turn back to the airport, engine number
one (outer left engine) failed, too.
The crew quickly recognized, they didn't have the thrust anymore necessary to get back to the airport and attempted an off airport landing. When hitting
the ground, the plane broke up and caught fire.
Witnesses on the ground watched the airplane as it descended. The witnesses reported, that they saw a growing fire on the left hand wing of the airplane.
They could not tell, whether it was engine #1 or #2 though.
Three people on ground died when the plane struck the farm house where they were living. The plane's eight crew members survived the crash and were taken
to a hospital. Four of them were seriously injured.