The pilots of the Lufthansa Cargo MD-11 aircraft that crashed on landing yesterday morning at Riyadh Airport in the Saudi Arabian capital escaped using an emergency slide.
Lufthansa has revealed that the 39-year-old Captain and 29-year-old First Officer were forced to escape from the blazing aircraft down the emergency slide after it crash landed at King Khaled International Airport at 11.38am local time. The flight, LH 8460, was stopping off at Riyadh on route to Hong Kong from Frankfurt airport. It was also due to call at Sharjah, UAE. “Both pilots have been contacted by telephone; they are currently being treated in hospital,” Lufthansa said.
“The MD-11 freighter, coded D-ALCQ, was severely damaged by a fire. On board the freighter were 80 tonnes of freight.” The airline said it was not known what type of freight was involved, or which of its customers had been affected. It added that the cause of the accident was still under investigation and a team of experts from Lufthansa Cargo was on its way to Riyadh. “Lufthansa Cargo is co-operating closely with the authorities in Riyadh and will do its utmost to help clarify the reasons for the accident. At the moment, we have no further details.”
Reports in the media suggest that prior to the crash, the two pilots had contacted Saudi Authorities to warn that there was a fire in the cargo bay of the plane. It has also been suggested that the plane broke in half on landing. This morning, Lufthansa was unable to confirm whether a fire in the cargo bay had been reported to the airline.
The aircraft was first delivered in 1993 and taken over by Lufthansa Cargo in 2004. Up to the accident in Riyadh, it had logged 10,073 take-offs and around 73,200 flying hours. The freighter completed its last comprehensive maintenance check on 22 June 2009, an A-Check was carried out immediately prior to the flight to Riyadh.
Source: Damian Brett, IFW News, 28 July 2010