3 killed in fiery California cargo-plane crash

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. - A DC-8 cargo plane plunged into an auction yard full of junked cars, killing three people aboard and leaving a quarter-mile-long trail of burning debris.

Authorities said the pilot of Emery Worldwide Flight 17 reported shortly after takeoff last night that the plane's cargo had shifted.

The plane, its balance disrupted, tried to return to Mather Field for an emergency landing but crashed in a fireball about a mile east of the field just before 8 p.m.

One witness said the plane, bound for Dayton, Ohio, hit the ground belly first and immediately was engulfed in flames. No one on the ground was injured.

The crew was dead by the time firefighters arrived, American River Fire Capt. Dan Haverty said.

The victims were identified today as Capt. Kevin Stables, 43, of Berlin, N.Y.; first officer George Land, 35, of Placerville, Calif.; and second officer Russell Hicks, 38, of Sparks, Nev.

It was the first fatal accident in the company's 50-year history, Emery spokesman James Allen said.

The crash at the Insurance Auto Auctions salvage yard set as many as 200 cars on fire - many of them had gas in their tanks, and there were several explosions.

Firefighters were hampered by intense flames, which burned for several hours after the crash. Smoke was visible in the moonlit night several miles away.

The plane was carrying 62,000 pounds of cargo including clothing, automatic-transmission fluid and a small number of fuses used to detonate automobile air bags, Allen said. Its capacity was 90,000 pounds.

The plane was one of 38 DC-8 models in Emery's fleet. The company had no immediate plans to ground the other planes, Allen said.

The McDonnell Douglas DC-8 has two engines mounted on each wing. The model went into service in 1959, and production ended in 1972.

The flight took off at 7:50 p.m., and the pilot immediately called back to the airfield's departure control and told them he had a severe problem with the aircraft's balance, said Jim Whitehead, manager of the Federal Aviation Administration's regional-operations center in Los Angeles.

Emery, based in Redwood City, specializes in transportation services for business shippers of heavyweight cargo, the company says on its Web site. The $2.4 billion company is a subsidiary of CNF, a $5.6 billion diversified-transportation company based in Palo Alto, the site states.

Mather Field, once Mather Air Force Base, was closed as a military operation in 1993. Since then, it has served as a civilian airport and the region's air-cargo hub. It is about 10 miles east of Sacramento.