Improperly Calculated Weight & Balance Led To Runway Crash

We're learning a lot more about the crash during takeoff of an MK Airlines Boeing 747-200 freighter in Nova Scotia two years ago. The Canadian Transportation Safety Board Thursday released its findings in the accident, during which the jumbo jet went down in heavy woods near the end of the runway in Halifax.

The TSB says that, in the end... it was a simple input error that brought down the jumbo jet. While calculating weight and balance, the board says the flight crew entered the plane's weight wrong -- telling the flight management computer the aircraft was 220,000 pounds lighter than it really was.

Canada's CNEWS reports the acting chairman of the safety board, Wendy Tadros, told a Thursday news conference in Ottawa that input errors have become a worldwide problem, and she called on the industry to come up with safeguards to prevent that sort of error.

The new findings come after the lead TSB investigator found the flight crew aboard the Ghana-registered 747 (file photo of type, below) tried to take off with the throttles far below the necessary power levels. That was confirmed by the flight data recorder, which showed the plane hadn't developed adequate thrust for takeoff.

As Aero-News reported, the plane's tail bumped the runway twice before it broke up, and plowed into the woods in the October 14, 2004 accident. All seven people on board were killed.

Family members of the crew say their loved ones were bone tired, and weren't sufficiently trained up on the 747's flight software. The airline, based in London, denies that.

In fact, a spokesman for MK says the jumbo jet went down because of a problem with the engines... a claim the TSB says it's been able to disprove.

FMI: www.tsb.gov.ca, www.mkairlines.com