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Cargo plane breaks in two at Brussels airport
Reuters: Africa ^ | Sun 25 May 2008, 15:09 GMT | Jan Strupczewski

Posted on 05/25/2008 9:24:02 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - An American Kalitta Air cargo plane slid off the runway at Brussels's Zaventem airport on Sunday and broke in two but there were no casualties, the fire brigade spokesman said.

The Boeing aircraft's five crew all escaped through an inflatable emergency slide, spokesman Francis Boileau said. Four of them had minor injuries.

Boileau did not know if the accident happened during take off or landing, but said that apart from its cargo of cars and equipment, the jet was full of fuel.

He said the plane came to a halt some 200 metres (650 feet) from the runway and only 10 metres (30 feet) from a railway line.

"There was a danger of an explosion just after the accident because it was full of kerosene, about 100 tonnes of it, and there was a big leakage when it broke," Boileau said.

The fire brigade had secured the leakage within 30 minutes, he said.

"We see from the large tracks on the runway that the pilot tried to stop the aircraft, because he understood he could not bring it up into the air, and he drove it off the runway," Boileau said.

The Kalitta Air company's website says it is a Michigan Limited Liability Company owned by Conrad Kalitta. It started in November 2000 with three Boeing 747 aircraft and the fleet has grown to a present total of 18 B 747 freighters.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 747; aerospace; boeing
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To: ZOOKER

At Least, It’s Center Fuel Tank didn’t detonate as Clintoonistas ridiculously declared on the TWA 800 Terror Attack..:-(


61 posted on 05/25/2008 12:30:46 PM PDT by True Republican Patriot (God Bless America and The Republicans)
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To: az_gila
Interesting units the English paper uses to describe dimensions on aircraft

Probably just converting meters to yards from a wire story for the local readers.

62 posted on 05/25/2008 12:31:32 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: BurbankKarl
uh oh...looks like one of their dragsters.

I used to watch Thursday Night Thunder, a live racing program usually on a dirt track. I think Doug Kalitta was one of the regulars there. Jeff Gordon also was also a regular before he graduated to NASCAR.

Loved the program. It had everything but the smell of rubber burning. Then one night one of the racers had an awful crash, and the announcers had to fill in about an hour and a half whilst they swept up the guy. It was no worse than a rain delay in baseball, but the program shortly thereafter went to tape, and then disappeared from the TV entirely.

63 posted on 05/25/2008 12:44:08 PM PDT by Ole Okie (Who are you going to believe anyway, Gore or your lyin' eyes?)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
What might have caused a large noise?

Blown engine? I was once on a plane whose middle engine apparently self-destructed shortly after takeoff. There was a boom and the entire plane shook - a minute or so later I realized we were no longer climbing. Then the captain came on the PA.

64 posted on 05/25/2008 3:03:44 PM PDT by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: Paleo Conservative

Wonder who’s the MRO for Kalitta Air on this one?


65 posted on 05/25/2008 5:11:04 PM PDT by Tainan (Talk is cheap. Silence is golden. All I got is brass...lotsa brass.)
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To: Paleo Conservative; microgood; liberallarry; cmsgop; shaggy eel; RayChuang88; Larry Lucido; ...

What’s the big deal?

A little Bondo, 20-30 minutes on the frame machine.....

Seriously, is (was) it a 747SP or does it just look that way because it is now “compressed?”


66 posted on 05/25/2008 5:18:53 PM PDT by MindBender26 (Leftists stop arguing when they see your patriotism, your logic, your CAR-15 and your block of C4.)
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To: Oztrich Boy

After they duct tape that pup back together like nothin’ ever happened, they can trade it in on somethin’ smaller, more fuel efficient, and therefore more “green”.


67 posted on 05/25/2008 5:32:35 PM PDT by webschooner
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To: bannie
. . . . . . the Army determined that WD-40 was a corrosive

WD-40 is nothing but kerosene and perfume in an aersol dispenser and it's a good product.

But PB Blaster Penetrating Catalyst is THE BEST ALL-PURPOSE WUNDER JUICE EVER MADE

(See all Blaster products here)

68 posted on 05/25/2008 7:50:37 PM PDT by skeptoid (AA, UE, MBS [with oak leaf clusters])
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To: Paleo Conservative

>>Jan Van der Cruysse, spokesman at the airport. “The plane is very seriously damaged,”<<
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=192746fb-481e-402c-8460-8754ad602c77&;

Maybe the plane was already airborne and hit the runway again. Allowed maximum landing weight is about 100 tonnes less than MTOW.

The picture looks to me like the undercarriage still supports the tail section but the fueled wing section was to heavy for that little jump.


69 posted on 05/26/2008 3:17:57 AM PDT by MHalblaub ("Easy my friends, when it comes to the point it is only a drawing made by a non believing Dane...")
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To: Oztrich Boy

You laugh—my father-in-law used duct tape on a wing that he ripped on a barbed wire fence when taxiing at Famoso. Taped it up and flew it home.


70 posted on 05/26/2008 8:39:38 PM PDT by kmiller1k (remain calm)
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To: Paleo Conservative
Mythbusters visited Kalitta Air for the Super Size Jet Taxi myth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTQh7D-nDNM

71 posted on 05/28/2008 9:09:10 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (USAF, TAC, 12th AF, 366 TFW, 366 MG, 366 CRS, Mtn Home AFB, 1978-81)
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To: ZOOKER
"Moron alert:

Airplanes are not "full of fuel" on landing!

Every gallon of fuel not used on the flight is 7 lbs. of cargo they could have made money carrying. Also, the extra gross weight is hard on airframe and brakes when landing."

Actually, many times planes are full of fuel on landing. It's called fuel tankering. If fuel is cheaper at your origin than it is at your destination, it can be economical to carry that extra fuel. There are calculations done to determine the "break point", but I won't go into that here... ;o)

For example, flying from the Middle East where the stuff is extremely cheap to Europe, where it costs MUCH more.

72 posted on 05/30/2008 9:07:37 AM PDT by SW6906 (6 things you can't have too much of: sex, money, firewood, horsepower, guns and ammunition.)
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