The Associated Press is reporting that A Kalitta Air Boeing 747 broke in half while trying to take off on Sunday. The cargo aircraft, which was carrying diplomatic baggage for the United States ambassador to Belgium, ruptured in the center of the aircraft around the main fuselage and again at the rear of the plane.
All five crew members escaped with no injuries.
There is no indication as to how or why the aircraft crashed, but speculation is buzzing around the internet. Runway 20 is one of the shortest in the Brussels airport, so it’s possible that the increased strain of pulling the aircraft up at lower speed caused the airframe to rupture. It’s another possibility that the cargo was overloaded to begin with and that failure was imminent anyway. Others conjecture that the cargo could have shifted during take off and caused the tail to strike the tarmac as the aircraft lifted off.
Either way, don’t let this deter you from flying on a 747 any longer. A variety of factors could have caused the failure that aren’t necessarily the product of the aircraft design. Once the NTSB (or Europe’s version of the NTSB) gets their hands on the data we’ll have a better idea of what truly happened.
Until then, take a look at this footage of the carnage.