UPS Airlines Flight 6
Encyclopedia
UPS Airlines Flight 6 was a cargo flight operated by UPS Airlines
. On 3 September 2010, a Boeing 747-400
flying the route between Dubai International Airport
and Cologne Bonn Airport
crashed close to Dubai airport, killing the two crew members. The aircraft had departed Dubai International earlier, but returned after reporting smoke in the cockpit. It was the first fatal air crash for UPS Airlines. The crash caused an examination of safety procedures protecting airliners from cockpit smoke.
F, registered
N571UP and was delivered to UPS Airlines in 2007. It had flown for a total of 9,977 hours, and had a major inspection performed in June 2010. Before the crash, it was among the newest (#1,393 of 1,418; the 26th from the last) Boeing 747-400s built.
's air traffic control, and they could not initially contact Dubai
air traffic control due to a radio failure. Although they were offered a diversion to Doha
, Qatar
, the pilots returned to Dubai, and were instructed to land on the airport's runway 12L. The aircraft was too high on the approach and passed over the airport before making a tight turn; radar contact was lost shortly thereafter at 15:42 UTC. The aircraft crashed in an unpopulated area between the Emirates Road and Al Ain Highway.
The captain, 48-year old Doug Lampe of Louisville, Kentucky
, and the first officer, 38-year old Matthew Bell from Sanford, Florida
, died. Both crew members were based in UPS's Anchorage, Alaska
pilot base. The accident was the first fatal accident involving UPS Airlines.
announced that it would dispatch an aviation investigator to assist the United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority
(GCAA) in its investigation of the crash. Boeing
offered to send a team to the United Arab Emirates to provide technical assistance in the investigation process.
Following the recovery of the cockpit voice recorder
, the GCAA issued a preliminary report on the September 5, 2010. On September 7, the authorities discovered the flight data recorder
. The government of Bahrain
decided to conduct its own investigation into the accident. UPS also sent its own investigation team. The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were sent to the United States for analysis by the National Transportation Safety Board
on September 10, 2010.
As of September 8, 2010, the GCAA and UPS did not comment on the progress of the investigation. According to Associated Press
sources, people familiar with the investigation said that the fire may have started in the cargo compartment. The investigators are checking the cargo to determine what was loaded on the aircraft. On September 8, 2010 the head of the GCAA, director general Saif al Suwaidi, said that it was too early to determine exactly what the cause of the crash was.
The investigation revived safety concerns about the effects of smoke in the cockpit. The crash also revived concerns over whether smoke hood
s should be allowed in the cockpit. Prior to the crash of UPS Flight 6, debate over whether manufacturers and regulators had been doing enough to prevent airborne fires had occurred. Around the time of the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board
had asked the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) to install automatic fire extinguisher systems in the holds of cargo aircraft. UPS Airlines followed FAA regulations, which stated that pilots should depressurize the main cabin and climb to an altitude of at least 20000 feet (6,096 m) upon detection of a fire so as to deprive the flames of oxygen.
On September 23, 2010, the GCAA reported that 100% of the material contained in the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder was successfully downloaded by the NTSB and that the data was being analyzed. In October 2010, Boeing announced that fire indication checklists were to be modified to instruct pilots that at least one of the three air conditioning systems must be left in operation in order to prevent excessive smoke accumulation on the flight deck.
In November 2010, a U.S. government official said that investigators so far have not found any connections to terrorism in regards to the crash. On November 5, 2010, Al Qaeda's Yemen
wing, the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
, took responsibility for Flight 6's crash as part of the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot.
(FAA) issued a Safety Alert For Operators highlighting the fact that the cargo on board Flight 6 contained a large quantity of lithium batteries and that Halon 1301 was inefficient in fighting fires involving them. The FAA issued a restriction on the carrying of lithium batteries in bulk on passenger flights.
UPS Airlines
UPS Airlines is an American cargo airline owned by United Parcel Service Inc. . The company is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. Its home airport is located at Louisville International Airport...
. On 3 September 2010, a Boeing 747-400
Boeing 747-400
The Boeing 747-400 is a major development and the best-selling model of the Boeing 747 family of jet airliners. While retaining the four-engine wide-body layout of its predecessors, the 747-400 embodies numerous technological and structural changes to produce a more efficient airframe...
flying the route between Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport is an international airport serving Dubai, the largest city of the United Arab Emirates. It is a major aviation hub in the Middle East, and is the main airport of Dubai. It is situated in the Al Garhoud district, southeast of Dubai...
and Cologne Bonn Airport
Cologne Bonn Airport
Cologne/Bonn Airport is an international airport located in the district of Porz in the city of Cologne, Germany, and is surrounded by the Wahner Heide nature reserve. The airport is centrally located in the Cologne/Bonn Region southeast of Cologne city centre and northeast of Bonn...
crashed close to Dubai airport, killing the two crew members. The aircraft had departed Dubai International earlier, but returned after reporting smoke in the cockpit. It was the first fatal air crash for UPS Airlines. The crash caused an examination of safety procedures protecting airliners from cockpit smoke.
Aircraft
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 747-400Boeing 747-400
The Boeing 747-400 is a major development and the best-selling model of the Boeing 747 family of jet airliners. While retaining the four-engine wide-body layout of its predecessors, the 747-400 embodies numerous technological and structural changes to produce a more efficient airframe...
F, registered
Aircraft registration
An aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...
N571UP and was delivered to UPS Airlines in 2007. It had flown for a total of 9,977 hours, and had a major inspection performed in June 2010. Before the crash, it was among the newest (#1,393 of 1,418; the 26th from the last) Boeing 747-400s built.
Crash
Flight 6 departed from Dubai International at 14:53 UTC and at 15:15 the crew reported a fire in the cockpit when the aircraft was around 120 nautical miles (222.2 km) west-northwest of Dubai, and declared an emergency. The pilots were under the control of BahrainBahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
's air traffic control, and they could not initially contact Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
air traffic control due to a radio failure. Although they were offered a diversion to Doha
Doha International Airport
Doha International Airport is the only commercial airport in Qatar. It has three mosques, free Wi-Fi, a duty-free area, a few eateries and 42 parking bays for aircraft. There are also 60 check-in gates, 8 baggage claim belts and over 1,000 car parking spaces.The airport suffers from...
, Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
, the pilots returned to Dubai, and were instructed to land on the airport's runway 12L. The aircraft was too high on the approach and passed over the airport before making a tight turn; radar contact was lost shortly thereafter at 15:42 UTC. The aircraft crashed in an unpopulated area between the Emirates Road and Al Ain Highway.
The captain, 48-year old Doug Lampe of Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, and the first officer, 38-year old Matthew Bell from Sanford, Florida
Sanford, Florida
Sanford is a city in, and the county seat of, Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 38,291 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 50,998...
, died. Both crew members were based in UPS's Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
pilot base. The accident was the first fatal accident involving UPS Airlines.
Investigation
The National Transportation Safety BoardNational Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
announced that it would dispatch an aviation investigator to assist the United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority
General Civil Aviation Authority
The General Civil Aviation Authority is the civil aviation authority of the United Arab Emirates. The authority has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, while it has a regional office in Dubai.-External links:* *...
(GCAA) in its investigation of the crash. Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
offered to send a team to the United Arab Emirates to provide technical assistance in the investigation process.
Following the recovery of the cockpit voice recorder
Cockpit voice recorder
A cockpit voice recorder , often referred to as a "black box", is a flight recorder used to record the audio environment in the flight deck of an aircraft for the purpose of investigation of accidents and incidents...
, the GCAA issued a preliminary report on the September 5, 2010. On September 7, the authorities discovered the flight data recorder
Flight data recorder
A flight data recorder is an electronic device employed to record any instructions sent to any electronic systems on an aircraft. It is a device used to record specific aircraft performance parameters...
. The government of Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
decided to conduct its own investigation into the accident. UPS also sent its own investigation team. The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were sent to the United States for analysis by the National Transportation Safety Board
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
on September 10, 2010.
As of September 8, 2010, the GCAA and UPS did not comment on the progress of the investigation. According to Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
sources, people familiar with the investigation said that the fire may have started in the cargo compartment. The investigators are checking the cargo to determine what was loaded on the aircraft. On September 8, 2010 the head of the GCAA, director general Saif al Suwaidi, said that it was too early to determine exactly what the cause of the crash was.
The investigation revived safety concerns about the effects of smoke in the cockpit. The crash also revived concerns over whether smoke hood
Smoke hood
A smoke hood is a protective device similar in concept to a gas mask. A translucent airtight bag seals around the head of the wearer while an air filter held in the mouth connects to the outside atmosphere and is used to breathe...
s should be allowed in the cockpit. Prior to the crash of UPS Flight 6, debate over whether manufacturers and regulators had been doing enough to prevent airborne fires had occurred. Around the time of the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
had asked the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
(FAA) to install automatic fire extinguisher systems in the holds of cargo aircraft. UPS Airlines followed FAA regulations, which stated that pilots should depressurize the main cabin and climb to an altitude of at least 20000 feet (6,096 m) upon detection of a fire so as to deprive the flames of oxygen.
On September 23, 2010, the GCAA reported that 100% of the material contained in the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder was successfully downloaded by the NTSB and that the data was being analyzed. In October 2010, Boeing announced that fire indication checklists were to be modified to instruct pilots that at least one of the three air conditioning systems must be left in operation in order to prevent excessive smoke accumulation on the flight deck.
In November 2010, a U.S. government official said that investigators so far have not found any connections to terrorism in regards to the crash. On November 5, 2010, Al Qaeda's Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
wing, the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is a militant Islamist organization, primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It was named for al-Qaeda, and says it is subordinate to that group and its now-deceased leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi citizen whose father was born in Yemen...
, took responsibility for Flight 6's crash as part of the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot.
FAA Reaction
In October 2010, the Federal Aviation AdministrationFederal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
(FAA) issued a Safety Alert For Operators highlighting the fact that the cargo on board Flight 6 contained a large quantity of lithium batteries and that Halon 1301 was inefficient in fighting fires involving them. The FAA issued a restriction on the carrying of lithium batteries in bulk on passenger flights.
See also
- Boeing 747 hull lossesBoeing 747 hull lossesA total of 49 Boeing 747 aircraft, first flown commercially in 1970, have been involved in accidents and incidents resulting in the complete destruction of the aircraft or it being declared to be damaged beyond economical repair. Many of these losses have been due entirely to hostile actions,...
- South African Airways Flight 295South African Airways Flight 295South African Airways Flight 295 was a commercial flight that suffered a catastrophic in-flight fire in the cargo area and crashed into the Indian Ocean east of Mauritius on 28 November 1987, killing everyone on board...
- Air Canada Flight 797Air Canada Flight 797Air Canada Flight 797 was a scheduled trans-border flight that flew on a Dallas/Fort Worth-Toronto-Montreal route. On , the aircraft developed an in-flight fire behind the washroom that spread between the outer skin and the inner decor panels, filling the plane with toxic smoke...
- Swissair Flight 111Swissair Flight 111Swissair Flight 111 was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland...
- Singapore Airlines Flight 006Singapore Airlines Flight 006Singapore Airlines Flight 006 was a scheduled passenger flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Los Angeles International Airport via Chiang Kai-shek Airport in Taiwan...
- Another the aviation accident involving another Boeing 747-400 with the same flight number. It is also the Boeing 747-400 fatal accident prior to UPS Airlines Flight 6. - 2010 cargo plane bomb plot
- Asiana Airlines Flight 991Asiana Airlines Flight 991Asiana Airlines Flight 991 was a scheduled Asiana Airlines cargo flight between Incheon International Airport, South Korea and Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China...
External links
- General Civil Aviation AuthorityGeneral Civil Aviation AuthorityThe General Civil Aviation Authority is the civil aviation authority of the United Arab Emirates. The authority has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, while it has a regional office in Dubai.-External links:* *...
- Preliminary Report.
- "GCAA : No evidence of an onboard explosion related to Al Qaeda claims on the Crash of UPS Boeing 747 - 400 Cargo." November 7, 2010.
- "GCAA eliminates the possibility of an onboard explosion regarding the crash of UPS Boeing 747 - 400 Cargo investigation." October 31, 2010. (Alt)
- "GCAA reveals more details regarding the crash of UPS Boeing 747 - 400 Cargo investigation." October 20, 2010
- "GCAA reveals more details regarding the Crash of UPS Boeing 747 - 400 Cargo investigation." - September 23, 2010
- "GCAA Announces the recovery of Digital Flight Data Recorder From UPS6 Boeing 747 – 400." - September 13, 2010.
- "GCAA Announces the Preliminary Report on the ACCIDENT INVOLVING UPS6 Boeing 747 – 400 on 3rd September, 2010." - September 5, 2010
- "B744 Freighter crash after onboard fire indication, Dubai, 3 Sep 10 – Preliminary Report Issued" - SKYbrarySKYbrarySKYbrary is a wiki created by the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, International Civil Aviation Organization, and the Flight Safety Foundation to create a comprehensive source of aviation safety information freely available online. It was launched in May 2008 on a platform...
- "Statement on Aircraft Accident." (Archive) - United Parcel ServiceUnited Parcel ServiceUnited Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...