DHL crew saves A300B4 after SAM hit on takeoff

Though unconfirmed by DHL, an unofficial collection of photos and text circulating on the Internet sheds chilling light on the November 22 missile attack a

By Mark Phelps

February 1, 2007

Though unconfirmed by DHL, an unofficial collection of photos and text circulating on the Internet sheds chilling light on the November 22 missile attack at Baghdad International Airport. The Brussels, Belgium-based DHL Airbus A300B4-200 freighter, bound for Bahrain, was hit after takeoff and made a successful emergency landing back at the Baghdad airport with no injury to the three-man Belgian/UK crew. The weapon was a Russian-designed SA-7 surface-to-air missile fired by Iraqi insurgents. A video obtained by a French news team shows the group of Iraqis setting up and firing the missile, the flash when it struck the Airbus and the successful emergency landing.

The PowerPoint package includes a variety of photos of the dramatic landing, the aircraft running off the runway in a cloud of sand and details of the damage to the left wing. The text includes an account of the short flight and a summary of the damage, apparently written by a member of the DHL team sent to assess the airplane two days after the attack.

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