Dubai highway plane crash

28 mins ago we heard some breaking news: Plane crashes on Emirates highway in Dubai; this plane turns out to be an American Cargo plane (UPS 747) which was headed from Dubai to Cologne, Germany. Some reports indicates that all the crew members have been killed, some cars on fire. It crashed on a busy highway in Dubai (Emirates Rd/Nad elSheba in a military area), setting some cars on fire, as Al Arabiya reported. Ambulances are rushing to the area, located near a residential district. According to a UAE senior official, a fire broke in the plane as it attempted to land at the Dubai International Airport, causing its crash. The official spoke on condition of anonymity. Al Jazeera television quoted witnesses as saying the plane was ablaze before crashing. State-run Dubai TV said the crash appeared to have been caused by a technical fault.

“I’m at the site of the crash, a deserted area… near the Dubai Al Ain road, not on the road,” the station’s correspondent said by telephone.

Our prayers are with all those involved.

Al Suwaidi said the pilot had already left the UAE’s airspace and entered Bahrain’s before the aircraft started facing problems. “He was reporting to Bahrain’s air traffic control (ATC) when he declared an emergency and decided to head back towards Dubai because that was a closer airport,” he said. “However he had problems switching back to the Dubai ATC frequency so he remained on the Bahraini frequency as he returned to Dubai,” he said, adding that it was so far unclear why the pilot was unable to change the frequency.

The plane crashed approximately forty minutes after takeoff. 7 September 2010 - The Digital Flight Data Recorder from the UPS Boeing 747 – 400 cargo aircraft which crashed in Dubai on Friday, has been recovered. The Cockpit Voice Recorder was previously recovered on Saturday, about six hours after the accident. The two recorders will shortly be sent to the US for analysis along with a representative of the GCAA. Officials will now begin removing wreckage of the crashed aircraft from the site tomorrow to transfer it to a secure place. -  WAM