Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

<p>A Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed into a muddy field while on approach into Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport at around 10:30 a.m. local time February 25, killing at least nine of the 134 occupants and injuring dozens more. News cameras showed rescue crews surrounding the scene, where the airplane lay in three pieces alongside a highway, roughly a half mile from the intended runway threshold. Some survivors reportedly had escaped through fractures in the rear of the fuselage, where the most serious damage to the airframe appeared to occur. Others escaped through emergency exit doors above the wings, both of which remained intact. Both CFM56-7 engines, however, lay in the field, separate from the airframe. Turkish Airlines confirmed that Flight TK1951 carried 127 passengers and seven crewmembers. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it is sending a team of investigators to Amsterdam to assist in the investigation. NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker has designated senior air safety investigator Joe Sedor as the U.S. accredited representative, who, with three other NTSB investigators, will accompany a team of technical advisors from the FAA, Boeing and General Electric, which partners with Snecma to build the CFM engines. </p>
