LATEST PICS: UPS Plane Crash in Dubai
The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has announced the findings of its preliminary report into the crash of a UPS cargo plane in Dubai on September 3, which claimed the lives of two crewmembers. The report found that flight number UPS6 B744 departed from Dubai International Airport at 6:53pm UAE time, headed to Cologne in Germany. At 7:15pm UAE time information was received from Bahrain that the aircraft was returning to Dubai Airport with smoke in the cockpit, that it was unable to maintain altitude and had requested to land at Dubai Airport.
The report says Air Traffic Control in Dubai issued clearance when the plane was approximately 40km from touchdown. The aircraft was high on the approach and was at 8500ft at 24km from touchdown. It passed above the airfield “very high”, the GCAA said, and made a right turn, before tracking south west and losing altitude rapidly. At approximately 7:42pm local time, radar contact was lost as the B744 crashed in an unpopulated area between the Emirates Road and Al Ain Highway, 50 minutes after its departure, and after returning back from Bahrain Flight Information Region, the report said.
The report confirmed the investigation team had recovered the black box cockpit voice recorder approximately six hours after the accident, and is gathering forensic evidence from the scene. It added that a team from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will arrive in the UAE on Sunday to assist the GCAA team in the crash investigation.