A Boeing 747 cargo plane operated by Turkey based ACT Airline crashed near Bishkek-Manas International Airport (FRU) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzs...
The aircraft crashed in to a residential area, while attempting to land at the runway 26 of FRU, under poor visibility weather conditions.
The area was under dense fog with visibility down to 150 m and a Runway Visual Range reported for runway 26 at 550 m in freezing fog conditions. Vertical visibility was 100 m and temperature -9°C.
Local media reported all four crew members Captain Pilot Ibrahim Gürcan DIRANCI, Co-Pilot Kazim ÖNDÜL, Load Master Melih ASLAN and Flight Technician Ihsan KOCA, and more than 30 civilians on the ground were killed in the crash.
The Flight TK6491 was flying a cargo flight between Hong Kong and Istanbul with an en route refueling stop planned at the Bishkek Airport.
The airline said the crew had rested for 69 hours in Hong Kong before the 6-hour flight from Hong Kong to Bishkek.
The 747-412F with registration no TC-MCL was manufactured in 2003 and have clocked around 45,000 flight hours. Onboard was a total of 85,618 kg general cargo load. Powered by four Pratt & Whitney PW 4056 turbofan engines the aircraft had a cargo capacity of 116,462 kg.
The aircraft was first delivered to Singapore Airlines Cargo as 9V-SFL, who operated it from 2003 to 2013. It joined the ACT airline fleet in December 2015 after undergoing a major C-check overhaul in November 2015.
Captain İbrahim Gürcan DİRANCI and First Officer Kazım ÖNDÜL are ex-Turkish Air Force pilots. The Captain had a total of 10,821 flight hours of which 833 hours are on B747, while the First Officer had a total of 5910 flight hours of which 1771 hours were on the type.
The Istanbul based ACT cargo airline trades under the brand name MyCARGO and is a Chinese HNA Group subsidiary.
