DHL cargo plane SNAPS in half runway, Costa Rico
Flight D07216 was scheduled to fly from San Jose to Guatemala City on Thursday when the flight had to turn around after about an hour in the air, landing back at Juan Santamaria Airport around 10.30am local time.
Upon landing, the plane, which was reportedly carrying hazardous materials, according to Simple Flying, skidded, sharply veering to the right. Smoke plumes flew out from underneath the tires before the plane came to rest on an uneven median, with sparks flying from its tail-end.
The crew reportedly lost control of the DHL plane after the Mayday landing and both gear struts collapsed, Aero Inside reported. A gear strut is the mechanism that bears the brunt of the landing.
Firefighters put out fire on Guatemala-bound DHL cargo plane
Flight D07216 had to be sprayed off by firefighters after making an emergency landing at Juan Santamaria Airport with hydraulic problems
The pilots, who were able to get off the plane safely, lost control after landing on runway 7 (left), before spinning out and crashing on the side (right)
Video footage shows the grounded plane surrounded by emergency vehicles and firefighters hurriedly spraying water on it. Its wing appears level with the ground.
Another video shows the tail end of the plane snapped in half, separating from the main body of the aircraft. Gray and orange smoke billowed across runway seven.
Two crew members were on board and were reportedly uninjured.
The 51-minute flight had hit a max height of 21,000 feet, then began circling back toward San Jose.
The tail end of the plane snapped in half, separating it from the main body of the aircraft
Firefighters had to hose down the plane as it caught fire during the crash
Emergency crews were seen on the crash scene on runway seven
Its flight path showed that it made three and a half loops over the Pacific Ocean coastline to burn off fuel before beelining back toward the airport. Boeing 757s cannot dump fuel and must burn it off by flying to make the aircraft lighter and cause less stress on the aircraft during landing.
The aircraft was 22 years old, according to Simply Flying, and had originally been a passenger jet for Eastern Air Transport, a Taiwanese company, before being transformed into a cargo plane in October 2010.
In recent months, the jet flew frequently, transporting goods between San Jose, Mexico City, Guatemala City, and Miami, Simple Flying reported.
The airport will remain closed until the emergency is cleared. All flights were still canceled as of Thursday night ET.
Last week, a pilot was hospitalized after crashing into apartments in Oxfordshire, England.
Police, paramedics and fire crews rushed to the scene in Upper Heyford, near Bicester, at around midday and found the pilot in a field. He had suffered several injuries but police said that none was believed to be life-threatening.
The flight was in the air for 51 minutes before having to make the emergency landing around 10.30am local time. The crew made several loops over the Pacific coastline to burn fuel before beelining back toward the airport. Planes typically burn or dump fuel before landing to make the aircraft lighter and easier to land
Juan Santamaria Airport (pictured) will remain closed until the emergency is cleared. All flights are still canceled as of Thursday night, eastern time
It was believed that the pilot was flying low when his aircraft struck a block of unoccupied new-build flats. No one else was hurt.
A 45-year-old woman said she was sitting in her garden when she heard the plane fly overhead and looked up to see the pilot suddenly ejecting out of the cockpit with a parachute which rapidly opened.
George Parker, who lives just a few hundred yards from the crash scene at the former United States Air Force base, said: 'I saw the pilot come down in a nearby field as the plane smashed into a block of new build flats. Fortunately no one has yet moved into them.'
The pilot, who has not yet been named, was taken by ambulance to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where he was treated for his injuries and detained for observation.
No details of where he was flying to and from have yet been released by police.
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