Dubai: An investigation led by the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) into why the United Parcel Services (UPS) Boeing 747-400 cargo plane crashed in Dubai has revealed that smoke in the cockpit led to a fire warning about 28 minutes after takeoff.
The GCAA on Tuesday said the plane had been cleared for landing in Doha by Bahrain Air Traffic Control, but the crew decided to return to Dubai. Shortly afterwards they experienced visibility and communication problems.
Later airport authorities received an emergency distress call. The captain was in control up to the moment the recording ended.
The cargo plane crashed into the Nad Al Sheba military camp at 7.43pm on September 3. Eyewitnesses said it burst into a fireball before crashing.
The investigation, led by the GCAA investigation team, is still ongoing as they gather more evidence from the accident site.
They have also been downloading the flight recordings from the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CRV) (known as black boxes).
The two boxes were shipped to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Friday, under the custody and supervision of GCAA investigators, and are now undergoing technical analysis.
Engineer Esmail Abdul Wahid, leader of GCAA investigation team, says the investigation will continue until the cause of the accident is known.
