Pilots Killed in Crash of Cargo Plane in Japan

[tekisui]

Source: NY Times

HONG KONG — A Federal Express cargo plane burst into flames as it landed Monday morning at Narita International Airport outside Tokyo, and the police confirmed that the pilot and co-pilot had been killed.

Video footage of the crash showed a massive fireball erupting from the plane just as it touched down. The plane then veered to its left, skidded off the runway and flipped over. Fire engines rushed to the scene and sprayed the plane with foam.

The aircraft, an MD-11, was coming from Guangzhou, in southern China. The crash occurred shortly before 7 a.m, according to the Japanese transport ministry.

There were reports on Monday of strong, gusting winds at Narita, located 35 miles east of Tokyo. The Kyodo news agency said a local observatory had recorded winds in the area of 43 miles per hour.

Runway A, the longer of two landing strips at Narita, was immediately closed and dozens of flights were re-routed to Haneda, another Tokyo-area airport, and to airports in Osaka and Nagoya. Narita is Japan’s busiest cargo hub, and one of the busiest in the world. It also handles most of the international passenger traffic in and out of Japan.

A police spokesman, Yoshino Ichihara, confirmed the deaths of the two pilots, the Associated Press reported. He said Federal Express told the police that the pilot was Kevin Kyle Mosley, 54, and the co-pilot was Anthony Stephen-Pino, 49.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/world/asia/23japan.html?hp