Kalitta Air Crash: Bird Strike/FOD

On May 26th, Kalitta Air B7470200F  N209CK crashed on an aborted take off from Brussels Belgium enroute to Bahrain.  The aircraft was on charter to DHL Express.   There was no loss of life, but the aircraft was a complete loss, having broken its back in multiple places. 

European air safety authorities have now ruled that the crash was a result of ingestion of a bird into the number 3 engine.  The resulting loss of power created an overrun of the runway and loss of the aircraft.  

Belgian authorities reported the bird as a Kestrel, a common small bird of prey.   In this case, the little raptor destroyed one of the largest birds on earth.

Kalitta Airways has had a particularly rough year.  Two weeks following this crash, another Kalitta jet crashed in Colombia, while later in the year dragster driver Scott Kalitta, son of Kalitta Airways founder Connie Kalitta, was killed in a racing related accident.

Kalitta has also sufferred the same economic issues as other global freight carriers, recently grounding almost half of their 21 aircraft fleet due to weak market conditions.  The air carrier also laid off approximately 200 workers.

Eric

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