Chain Attachments News Today

It could go out of the limits. >> reporter: it is not just the total, but where that weight was positioned on the plane. as part of the draw down in afghanistan, the u.s. has been removing a massive amount of heavy equipment. so this takes off for dubai with five armored vehicles on board. each weighing 13 tons, has to be locked in a certain spot. if one of the chain attachments fail, one loose vehicle could push 20, 30 tons to the rear of the plane. >> a lot of people at home wonder whats the d...

Caused accidents before, when it has rotateded with the nose up, it is moved aft. >> reporter: cargo is chained down, but if one of the chain attachments fails, it could shift. >> we dont know that that happened here. that has happened in prior accidents. then the airplane becomes uncontrollable. >> reporter: chris lawrence, cnn, washington. >> joining me now is john nance, good to have you on the program. sorry under these circumstances. ive never seen anything like this. its everybodys nightma...

Out of the sky. so the pilots need to gain as much altitude as possible while theyre still over bagram. a 747 carrying cargo can reach altitude almost two minutes faster. >> the typical concern with a cargo aircraft and this has caused accidents before is when the airplane is rotated with the nose up, the cargo moves aft if its not properly secured. >> normally the cargo is chained down but if one of the chain attachments fails, its possible that it could shift. look, this is just one possibilit...