Experts hunt for crash clues at Sharjah airport

The National staff

• Last Updated: October 23. 2009 5:37PM UAE / October 23. 2009 1:37PM GMT

Courtesy Sharjah TV

When Flight SD2241 took off from Sharjah International Airport on Wednesday, nothing was apparently amiss, according to footage captured by airport video cameras.

The video shows the four-engine cargo plane taking off from Runway 30 and then, moments later, banking aimlessly to the right, nearly turning over, before striking land and erupting in a pillar of flames and debris. The six crew members were killed; there were no passengers aboard.

“It clearly shows something was wrong” during take-off, said Abdul Wahab al Roomi, director of Sharjah Civil Aviation. “It veered right like it would return and, within just seconds, it falls down and catches fire.”

Witnesses’ claims that an object fell off the plane just before the accident appear to be supported by the video, which shows a large object falling to the ground seconds before the plane plummeted.

The Sudanese-registered Boeing 707-320C narrowly missed neighbourhoods and a road packed with afternoon traffic.

Saif al Suwaidi, director general of the General Civil Aviation Authority, said yesterday that an American team of experts had been invited to the UAE to assist in the investigation.

“We are inviting the USA because they are more experienced with investigations of this kind with this type of aircraft,” he said. “So we feel they can be helpful in determining the cause of the accident.’

Included in the US contingent, he said, would be an “expert from Boeing”, the manufacturer of the 40-year-old aircraft, whose production ended in the late 1970s.

Mr al Suwaidi ruled out an overloaded cargo hold as a cause, saying that the plane was carrying six tonnes fewer than its maximum capacity of 37.

Both flight data recorders were recovered on Wednesday night and may be sent abroad, possibly to Europe, Canada or the US. Mr al Suwaidi said. “Usually we choose advanced laboratories for these kinds of things for analysis,” he said.

An air-traffic controller on duty yesterday said the recordings of the communications between the aircraft and the control tower had also been collected.

In a statement, Boeing confirmed its involvement.

“The US government is currently co-ordinating with the UAE Government to provide assistance under the guidelines of ICAO Annex 13 and current US export control laws,” it said, referring to the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s documentation that sets rules for when and how to investigate accidents.

Boeing also said it was on “standby to provide technical assistance in co-ordination with the US National Transportation Safety Board”.

Mr Suwaidi did not specify which US agency would be helping, although the safety board, a federal body, typically handles such matters.

A safety board official confirmed that its investigators would offer assistance but not travel to the UAE unless asked to do so.

The aircraft’s operator, Azza Transport, which regularly flies between Sharjah and the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, was penalised with US government sanctions in 2007 for its alleged role in transferring weaponry to Sudanese government forces and Janjaweed militiamen in Darfur.

The plane, with the tail number ST-AKW, had been in operation since 1969, and was first delivered to the German carrier Lufthansa before serving in several other fleets.

The government of Sudan was also participating in the investigation, Mr al Suwaidi said. According to international aviation experts, countries where a crashed aircraft was manufactured and registered must generally take part in such investigations – irrespective of the site of the crash.

Mr al Roomi said a newly formed investigative committee headed by the federal Government had been assembled and was already in Sharjah.

The aircraft arrived at Sharjah International Airport from Khartoum on Wednesday at 12.49pm, and was described as being in “good condition”. It took off again for Sudan at exactly 3.29pm and crashed two minutes later.

Emphasising that the aircraft had undergone rigorous inspections before take-off, Mr al Roomi said: “No plane would land at Sharjah Airport if it had not been tested and presented its documents.”

He added: “We must get all its documents and ensure that it meets the international set of safety standards.”

Mr al Roomi declined to discuss the cause of the incident in deference to the investigators.

A cargo operator who declined to give his name said he heard a loud explosion during take-off.

“They might have caught a bird in the engine,” he said. “And probably it was too heavy and it started bending on one side. This may have caused the sound, the ‘boom’, that nobody can explain.”

He added: “If such an aircraft has caught a flock of birds into two engines on the right side, there’s no chance they can survive”.

Mr Suwaidi said it was too early to speculate on possible causes.


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