Afghan Nightmare | National Airlines Flight 102

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National Airlines Flight 102 was a cargo flight operated by National Airlines between the British military base Camp Bastion in Afghanistan and Al Maktoum Airport in Dubai, with a refueling stop at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. On 29 April 2013, the Boeing 747-400 operating the flight crashed moments after taking off from Bagram, killing all seven people on board.

Music: When The Lights Came On
Artist: Kai Engel
Listen to the entire music here:

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[michaelbartholomew]

I maintained a fleet of training aircraft for 35 years and worked with dozens of flight instructors.Captain Brad hassler was one of the most respectful and professional pilots I have ever met! God bless you and your family.

[BlGGESTBROTHER]

These types of crashes are always the worst for me. The crew does absolutely nothing wrong and suffers the consequences of someone else's mistakes. Brutal.

[zndjrisudoqz]

I vividly remember when this happened, the 747 seemingly suspended in air at a shocking angle of attack, the crash and ensuing fireball, but mostly the eerie and complete silence from whomever was driving the vehicle with the dashcam

[aztekempire]

4:16 minute
That picture gives me the chills
Just imagine those people last seconds
RIP

[fluffy-fluffy]

I’m always amazed at how such a huge object can be literally blown into nothingness.

[johnneill]

I was there that day on the North end of the flight line, had watched it being loaded with MRAPs that morning. It actually crashed into our yard where our trucks were ( my office ) . Luckily nobody was killed, but some SF guys jumped on some quads and freed some of my coworkers who were pinned inside burning B-huts that were trapped inside pinned by debris . You can see my office in one of these pix . National Airline also operated the R&R bird for the contractors that flew in and out of Bagram and guess what ? We weren't real excited to wanna fly out on them especially after watching this happen . It was a very sad day, I still see it in my dreams from time to time, unfortunately it was surpassed a few months later when I was hit by an RPG and that memory haunts me more .

[thisissparta]

Similar accident occurred aboard the USS Ranger in 1970. In one of the worst plane crashes in US Naval history, 6 sailors and 4 Filipino civilian workers were killed when their C-2 Greyhound crashed in the Gulf of Tonkin right after being catapulted from the carrier. The cargo load in the back was improperly strapped down. When it got catted, the load shifted and crushed the crew in the rear. It also shifted the center of gravity and caused the plane to pitch up and stall. When it nose-dived, the cargo load shifted again and crushed the cockpit.

Everybody on board was dead before the plane even hit the water. Only two bodies were recovered.

[coreybrokaw]

The crash wasn't due to any straps that were secured at a wrong angle, but National not using enough straps for the cargo itself, and not having the correct procedures. The two smaller vehicles required 48 straps and 3 larger 60 straps. The conversion/hardware only allowed for 24-28 straps per vehicle. The load master put on extra straps as well. This was a failure from the very top of the company. There is far more detail than I can go into here. Like the flight recorder cut off at rotation, and there are no records of cockpit after that leading up to the crash.

And for sources, my brother was the First Officer.

[SouperAsH]

114, 000 lbs of vehicles, plus the weight of the cargo securement, plus fuel... That's a bloody heavy lift. Skating that near to the margins demands extra care, even if it is routine.

[aflacduckquack]

Nice job, Allec, good work. So sad how things can go wrong on aircraft...

[crazyleyland]

This incident should be shown to trainee loadmasters and other trainee air freight crews, to try and stop such a crash from happening again.

[dwmzmm]

Watching this and being reminded of it is painful. I worked as a ramp agent for Integrated Airline Services at KIAH in 1999 and we handled many cargo airlines and their aircrafts. I know full well the importance of loading the correct weight of the cargo (pallets) at their proper place in the cargo deck and securing it correctly. The lives of the aircraft crew (as well as those on the ground) depend on our doing the job correctly.

[Nzxtz]

I remember this one vividly. I watched the dashcam video that was released within days of the crash, in awe of something that size stalling and then almost floating back to earth with literally the same characteristics of a leaf drifting down in fall. It seemed so slow and peaceful, and yet was anything but. Amazingly terrifying, God bless the 7 men who were onboard. Thanks Allec.

[Slinger]

Everyone has seen that giant jet practically suspended in midair for a couple of seconds & then everyone's heart just breaking as it plummets to earth 💔😢 Those poor Pilot's never had a chance, all their fates were sealed the second those strap's broke 🙏 RIP

[moygsa]

RIP to all those who died in that tragic event

[TheProPilot]

Seeing the dash cam video of this accident literally made me sick and cry. I was so hurt to see such a slow and scary death for the pilots and crew. I can't imagine the feeling of seeing what you know is your death. That scares the heck out of me. God speed, gentlemen. I wish there was something they could have done to stop it.

[zero_bs_tolerance]

Wow... because of a strap. Unreal.
Thanks for the upload.

[davidca]

747s will always be the most badass jetliners ever produced, its sad they are being phased out.

[GreyGhost-rz]

I use to work for that company. I quit because the training I got was SUBSTANDARD. It was an accident waiting to happen. Some really great pilots there, but the management running the Detroit start up with the 757 and 747’s were clueless about training and had no idea how to structure and run a good and safe Airline. The upper level management all had a military style background where you were not allowed to question anything. If you spoke up about anything you got terminated. If you spoke up about safety items you could be terminated. As a pilot you felt the constant threat of termination for the measly 50, 000 they paid you. The Airlines in comparison have a management structure that encourages communication to further safety. In Initial training they had no training materials other than the Boeing Airplane manuals. It was 15, 000 pages of data. Normally Air carriers have an FAA approved training course that allow you to learn systems and to give you the tools to master the aircraft with confidence. Not National. They had no training materials. They gave us the Boeing Manuals and said you are on your own. You have 3 weeks to learn everything or you are terminated. I remember 2 Air Force Pilots quit ground school because they said it was an accident waiting to happen. It was a start-up who didn’t hire qualified people that actually knew how to design a start-up. Absolutely tragic. The pilots and other crew were good people being led by incompetent management and it killed these pilots and loadmasters. It’s an absolute shame. I feel terrible for the families. When You work for any company and your gut tells you to leave— listen to your gut instinct. I had been gone 3 months and then this happened. I felt so bad. Jeremy was a great pilot and he didn’t deserve to die like that. None of them did.

To be clear and fair, This wasn’t National Airlines the parent company this was a company DBA National Airlines out of Ypsilanti that had the 757’s and 747’s flying under the National Airlines Flag Colors, and I am not bashing Military people. I have flown with Miltitary trainied pilots and they do a great job. This upper level manangement would have been great as liason work between the military and National Corporate, but they lacked the skills to actively design and run a start-up safely. When an Airline sends you to simulator training, you have and are resposible for knowing and flying the company procedures. They hadn't written any... There were no written cockpit procedures, I was astounded. I had flown for other competent Jet Airlines for 18 years before with zero issues. United Airlines trained us...and they did a fantastic job, but the FAA checkride didn't recognize United Training procedures because National is supposed to have it's own training manual that was printed while we were in the Sim! After we had been trained under the United Training manual, because National didn't have one.... they expected us to forget everything we learned and were taught, and now be responsible for National's new training manual, that we had never even seen. It was a total goat rope. They gave us less than a week to now learn a entire new cockpit procedure in less than a week. Talk about STRESS... If you have ever done any kind of Airline Cockpit Training it's very stressful on it's own, but throw in a company that can't even produce it's own training materials and then plays bait and switch 3/4 way through training... absolutely ridiculous. 90% of the Pilots failed their checkrides. The FAA was going to shut the airline down, but "somehow" they didn't. A 90% Fail Rate is unheard of !! When 90% of pilots fail a checkride, that isn't a Pilot's fault, that's the training department and their lack of a curriculum.
I had to just walk away from that. It was just too much shenanigans. How can you trust a company who can't even design a training program to actually provide a stable working enviornment, who doesn't provide the things you need to do your job safely and competently. No job is worth dying for. It makes me sick watching this video, knowing I worked under that. Seeing those pilots who died and I remember them helping us and briefing us in our Ground School, trying to help all of us do a great job with what to expect on the checkrides and flight orals. But it just wasn't enough. I am glad I left.. This totally could have been prevented. That's my 2 cents and opinions. Rest in Peace dear friends.

[jstriggsr]

Bagram was a wild ride coming and going out... required a steep entry and departure... I'm sure these guys knew that... you would think the loadmasters had heard stories, if they hadn't been there before... our loadmaster was always... "gimme two more straps all around that rear pallet" but I know our C-130 was a tad different then a 747-400F... my last time there was about 3 months after this... there was a nice memorial to these guys in the Pax lounge...