Kalitta Air Flight 207
Boeing 747-200F · Bird strike resulting in engine failure on takeoff and runway overrun
From John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Bahrain International Airport (BAH)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA08RA063
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Occurrence
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 5
- Survivors
- 5
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 4
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
Boeing 747-200F
- Flight
- K4207
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 747
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N704CK
- Operator
- Kalitta Air
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Route
- From John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)To Bahrain International Airport (BAH)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 121: Air Carrier
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Not recorded
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Not recorded
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Personnel issues › Psychological
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
From the Wikipedia article
Kalitta Air Flight 207 (K4207/CKS207) was a scheduled cargo flight between John F. Kennedy Airport to Bahrain International Airport with a technical stopover at Brussels. On May 25, 2008, the Boeing 747-200 suffered a bird strike and overran runway 20 (later renumbered to 19) during takeoff at Brussels Airport. This led the aircraft to split into three large pieces. The occupants sustained minor injuries.
Flight
At 11:06 a.m., Flight CKS207 requested pushback. They requested clearance to taxi at 11:13 a.m. The controller directed the crew to taxi to A7 and hold short of runway 25R. They were later asked to contact the tower controller. The crew elected not to use runway 25R and instead requested to taxi to runway 20, as that runway was used for takeoffs whereas 25R was used for landings. They were asked to line up behind a Korean Air Boeing 747 and wait for takeoff clearance. At 11:29 a.m., they were cleared for takeoff from runway 20. At approximately 11:30 a.m., the crew heard a loud bang, followed by an explosion on Engine No.3. They decided to cancel the takeoff by engaging the thrust-reversers and setting the engine power to idle. The thrust reversers did not engage and since they had crossed V1 speed (138 knots) by 12 knots, they could not stop in time and overran the runway. A witness later reported hearing a "slight knock" and noticed a plane charging towards him, after which he immediately ran for cover. Flight 207 stopped 300 m from the end of runway 20 and 100 m from a railroad just ahead. The aircraft broke into three main pieces: the cockpit, the fuselage and the tail. The tower immediately called for fire trucks to arrive at the scene. The firefighters coated the wings with fire retardant as the plane was filled with fuel; the aircraft did not catch fire.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The investigation authority arrived at the crash site an hour later. The accident was investigated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Belgium. It was determined that there were traces of the European kestrel inside engine 3 causing it to lose power and fail, which was accompanied by a loud bang and it was noticed by the crew with immediate actions to slow down the plane. The runway end safety area (RESA), a part of the runway which helps the aircraft to stop in time, of runway 20 met the ICAO requirements in length and width—each 90 m. However, ICAO recommended a RESA length of 240 m; the runway did not follow this recommendation because there were a railway ahead of the runway and a road at the other end. The bird strike also caused the thrust reversers to not engage, thereby not adequately slowing down the aircraft. The bird strike, the malfunctioning of the thrust reverser, and the lack of situational awareness contributed to the crash of Flight 207.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Kalitta Air Flight 207” (revision 1373504439, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Kalitta Air Flight 207
- Article
- Kalitta Air Flight 207
- Revision
- 1373504439 · 2026-09-06 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q2626153
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA08RA063
- Event ID
- 20080620X00890
- Case number
- DCA08RA063
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Kalitta Air Flight 207" (page 68415519, revision 1373504439); merged with NTSB case DCA08RA063 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17)
- Map position
- NTSB record DCA08RA063: NTSB API eventLatitude/eventLongitude
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record DCA08RA063
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Kalitta Air Flight 207" and NTSB case DCA08RA063, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.