http://theloadstar.co.uk/breaking-news-national-air-cargo-crash-at-bagram/
Scott says: April 29, 2013 at 2:55 pm
I witnessed this crash today and there was no Taliban involvement. I can tell you this for sure – the 747 took off and commenced a quite steep climb out, not unusual for here, then one of two things happened. In my opinion either the strong head wind or a micro up burst caused it to pitch upward at what looked to be at least 85deg. Nose up or the cargo shifted to the rear and caused it to nose up. It then did what all swept wing aircraft do in a stall and pitched left at about 1200 Ft AGL, then it seemed like the pilot tried to correct and it pitched right and headed for the ground just before impact. It looked like it had flattened out to nearly level but had very little or no forward speed – what followed was the ground shook, followed by a large ball of fire and a huge black cloud of smoke. I truly wish I had not seen this, but I did, and my prayers and thoughts go out to all involved – both on board and the family and loved ones of the crew and passengers.
My son watched this video, and it brought back many memories for him. He posted this in another forum:
I spent a lot of time running along the same road that guy’s driving on, right through the area where the plane crashed. He’s just rounded the bend on the far side of the runway.
Planes taking off from bases like this take off at maximum angle to get as much altitude as possible in case of small arms fire or shoulder-fired missiles. It appears that some of the cargo broke loose and rolled to the rear, shifting the center of gravity and causing an irrecoverable stall. The 7 crew did not survive.
This sort of task is something military aircraft and aircrew are much better suited to, but contracting civilians is cheaper and makes it seem like we don’t have as big a military presence in the area. RIP.