BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN — Kyrgyzstan’s deputy prime minister says pilot error may have caused the Turkish cargo plane crash that killed 37 people on Monday.
The Boeing 747-400 plane was operated by ACT MyCargo Airlines, a Turkish cargo airline based in Istanbul. The flight number was TK6491.
The airline company stated in a press release that the flight was operated by four experienced crew members, including two pilots, a loadmaster and a flight technician. The plane was carrying a planned general cargo weighing of 85,618 kg. There were no faults recorded in the technical log book of the aircraft.
According to the Hong Kong International Airport, flight TK6491 was scheduled to take off at 1:10 a.m. local time but it actually took off at 2:48 a.m.
There was dense fog when the plane was approaching Manas airport at around 7:30 a.m. local time, but authorities said other planes had landed successfully before the crash.
The plane crashed in Dacha Suu village, located near the end of the runway at Manas airport and destroyed 23 of the 43 houses in the village. At least 37 people were killed.