such sad news when i heard it, training to be a pilot and hoping one day to fly the MD11 for Fedex I was deeply saddened
RIP to the pilots

Looking at the footage again, although the initial main undercarriage touchdown was heavy, it appears that the nose wheel touchdown was very hard, enough to pitch the nose up sharply and the whole aircraft to become airborne again. At this point it almost looks like they are going to climb out and try again, then the pitch down is quite marked and they touchdown again nose wheel first. I wonder if the cargo moved forward with the initial impact causing the hard nose wheel touchdown and bounce. If this was the case the aircraft would be extremely difficult to control and the events that follow speak for themself. Time will tell.

Tragic for the crew and their families.

Its a shame the aircraft rolled on its side, had that not have happened the crash may have been survivable(sp?).

MD11 don't like strong winds.

Which commercial aircraft do like strong winds?

I just read in the paper that the plane was carrying flammable liquid/s but they didn't say what sort? Other than the fuel would this explain why it burst into flames so quickly or just added to the intensity of the fire?

didnt take long to clean up

This sad incident reminded me of a similar crash by a Mandarin Airlines MD-11 (I think it was) at Chek Lap Kok Airport a few years ago. The area was being lashed by a nearby typhoon and the plane flipped onto its back on landing. Miraculously only about 3 people died in a plane that had a significant passenger load. A friend of mine was a flight attendant on the flight that landed before the MD-11 and witnessed the crash. He said the winds were pretty fierce with the Qantas plane being the last to arrive before the airport was shut due to the weather.

i guess this was the type of winds they had on landing in NRT this MD looks to get blown around quite a bit to,
from the videos i have seen NRT seems to get really strong winds here is a Fedex MD11 landing in NRT on another windy time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt25LlSsYRc
some more windy landings in narita
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKR65GMosI4

Wow check out the 340. That was a crosswind. Looks like a great spot for photos. Add it to my dream list, will get there one day( actually been there twice, wish I knew it was available). Do you know what end that runway was at Blake.