The NTSB ruled in May that the plane, operating as a cargo flight for DHL Express, fell from the sky because of "fuel starvation resulting from the captain's decision not to follow approved fuel crossfeed procedures."
Such tragedies occur when "time-tested procedures are not respected," wrote Acting NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker.
OTHER INCIDENTS
In Texas in 2002 and Maryland in 2004, cargo planes crashed in neighborhoods, killing pilots but causing no casualties on the ground. Across the nation, other cargo planes came down near people and buildings, killing the pilots but no one else:
. American Check Transport crash in Idaho, February 2000: As he flew over a residential subdivision, the veteran pilot radioed: "I just had two flameouts. I'm goin' in."
The Mitsubishi MU-2, coughing white smoke from its left engine, passed in front of a witness' house "just barely over the power lines" before crashing east of the airport in Lewiston.
. Superior Aviation crash in Indiana, November 2000: A Swearingen SA-226-TC carrying canceled checks crashed after takeoff from Fort Wayne International Airport.
A witness watching TV at 1:25 a.m. heard "a very low-flying aircraft come directly over my house. ... It sounded very revved up like a chain saw cutting through a tree at high speed. Several seconds later I heard a fairly loud thumping noise," NTSB records show.
Advocates say the tragedies are a sign that when a cargo plane falls, the impact goes beyond one death.
"Cargo is not just boxes," the Air Line Pilots Association wrote in a failed 2004 reform push. "Shipments of cargo contain ... things like medical supplies, biopsies awaiting testing, parts to keep businesses and factories open, large sums of money, etc. In short, the loss of a cargo aircraft has the potential to impact the lives of people in much the same way that the loss of a passenger aircraft does."
| Reporting by Ronnie Greene | Photography by Candace Barbot | Audio Editing by Rhonda Victor Sibilia | Online Production by Stephanie Rosenblatt | (c) Miami Herald July 9, 2006 |