Crew survives Lufthansa Cargo MD-11 crash in Riyadh

THE two-man crew of a Lufthansa Cargo has survived after their MD-11 from Frankfurt to Hong Kong via Riyadh and Sharjah, crashed and burned at King Khaled International Airport of the Saudi capital yesterday.

Lufthansa Cargo said the 39-year-old pilot and a 29-year-old co-pilot came down the emergency slide and were take to hospital. The Saudi Arabian General Authority of Civil Aviation said firemen extinguished the blaze after the plane split in two, reported London's International Freighting Weekly.

"Both [crewmen] have been contacted on the phone; they are currently being treated in hospital," said Lufthansa.

The aircraft carried 80 tonnes of freight and what's left of it was taken to Riyadh for investigation. "It is not yet known exactly what type of freight it was or which customers are affected," said Lufthansa.

In 2009, IFW reported on two MD-11 crashes: in December, Avient Aviation's first MD-11 freighter was involved in a fatal crash at Shanghai's Pudong Airport, just days after entering service for the Zimbabwean carrier. Three of the seven crew members died. In March last year, a FedEx MD-11 freighter from Guangzhou crashed at Tokyo's Narita Airport. Strong gusts of wind were blamed.

In this case, the MD-11 aircraft was delivered first in 1993 and taken on by Lufthansa Cargo in 2004. It has logged 10,073 take-offs and 73,200 flying hours. The freighter completed its last comprehensive maintenance check (C-Check) on June 22, 2009, said Lufthansa, and an A-Check was carried out just before its flight to Hong Kong via Riyadh.

A team of experts from Lufthansa Cargo is on its way to Riyadh. Lufthansa Cargo is cooperating closely with the authorities in Riyadh and will do its utmost to help clarify the reasons for the accident.

Lufthansa Cargo is cooperating closely with the authorities in Riyadh and "will do its utmost to help clarify the reasons for the accident".
(Source:www.schednet.com)