Turkish plane crashes near Amsterdam Schiphol airport, 9 killed. Flight TK 1951 wreck

Sad, but I had to post this news because of (1) being a follower of National Geographic "Air Crash Investigation" and (2) "witnessing" the today event (not in real time at site, but one hour later and around the crash scene).

(CNN) -- A Turkish passenger jet crashed as it tried to land at Amsterdam's main airport Wednesday, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 55, Dutch airport authorities have said.

The Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800, which had 127 passengers and seven crew members according to the airline, broke into three pieces on impact in a field near Schiphol Airport. Flight 1951 was arriving at Schiphol from Istanbul, Turkey, when it went down around 10:40 a.m. (4:40 a.m. ET). It came to rest in a farmer's field about 500 yards short of the runway, near the major A9 highway.

-At least three crew were among the dead.
"There are still three crew members in the cabin," said Bob Steensma of the Dutch Justice Department. "I'm sorry to say they are dead. We leave them there because we have to investigate the cockpit before we take the cockpit apart."

All the passengers, however, had been removed from the plane as of about 5 p.m., officials said. Roads around the crash site had been blocked to traffic.

-Witnesses said they saw the nose of the plane pitch up suddenly before the crash.

-Most of the injured were seated toward the back of the plane, which sustained the most damage, a passenger on the plane told Turkish station NTV.

-The pilot was giving more power to the engines before feeling "turbulence," then a sudden drop. Crash was described as similar to a sudden impact that was over in a matter of seconds

The last fatal incident at the Amsterdam airport happened in April 1994 when a KLM aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff as it tried to return to Schiphol. Three of the 24 passengers and crew members on board were killed.

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