Florida Plane Crash Focuses On Cargo

The 45 tons of denim aboard the cargo plane that crashed on take-off did not appear to be secured properly because more than half of the plane’s latches were found unlocked, an investigator said Sunday.

“If this investigation does have a focus, a mere three days into it, it would have to be cargo,” said Robert Benzon, who is heading the investigation for the National Transportation Safety Board.

Benzon said, however, that investigators have not found any damage to the inside of the plane that would indicate a massive cargo shift that could have caused the front end of the plane to nose skyward severely.

But Benzon cautioned that crucial evidence was missing, because the center of the fuselage was destroyed in the crash Thursday of the Dominican Republic-bound Fine Air DC-8 on take-off from Miami International Airport.

Investigators scoured the crash site during the weekend and recovered 49 of 90 latches intended to hold the plane’s cargo in place. Forty-eight of those were in the unlocked position, Benzon said.