Cargo plane takes dive while leaving Pudong By Pan Haixia (China Daily) Updated: 2006-01-27 09:17
A Boeing B747-400F of Cargolux bumped its nose into the ground
at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai before take-off Tuesday morning. No
one was injured in the incident.
A cargo plane parks at the
Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, January 26, 2006. The Boeing
B747-400F of Cargolux bumped its nose into the ground before take-off at
the airport Tuesday morning. [Newsphoto] |
Sources with the Pudong International Airport said the accident,
which occurred at around 7:00 am, was caused by a mistake of the ground handling
staff, who was checking the aircraft condition inside the cockpit to prepare for
take-off.
"A mistake of the staff resulted in the sudden retraction of the
nose gear," said Qiang Weizhong, director of the command centre of the
airport.
"The front lower part of the carrier was damaged after dropping
about 2 metres into the ground."
Lin Hanquan, manager of Cargolux in Shanghai, refused to confirm
the information, saying they were still investigating the incident, but will
need a few days for an official result.
A cargo plane parks at the
Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, January 26, 2006. The Boeing
B747-400F of Cargolux bumped its nose into the ground before take-off at
the airport Tuesday morning.
[Newsphoto] |
According to the initial investigation as publicized by local
media Wednesday morning, the nose gear suddenly retracted when the ground staff
was doing the check-up of the carrier, but there was no mention about the
mistake by the ground staff.
No one was injured. All the cargo was discharged and some
128-tons of oil was taken out after the accident.
"The normal running of Pudong airport was not disturbed because
the aircraft was already in the gate position when it happened," said Su Weiwei,
a liaison officer of the airport.
In a telephone interview yesterday afternoon, Lin of Cargolux
said they were trying to prop up the aircraft, which by 4:00 pm yesterday still
had its nose stuck in the ground and its tail in the air.
|