[3]: 4–6  The ground engineer was Mario Zahn, who held dual South African and German citizenship, and the loadmaster was Chris Strydom.

Because the 747 still had not lifted off the runway, the control column was moved further aft to 10°, and the aircraft responded with a further pitch up to approximately 11°; at this time, a tailstrike occurred.

With approximately 600 feet (180 m) of runway remaining, the thrust levers were advanced to 92% and the engine pressure ratios (EPRs) increased to 1.60.

As the aircraft passed the end of the runway, the control column was 13.5° aft, pitch attitude was 11.9° nose-up, and airspeed was 152 knots (282 km/h; 175 mph).

The lower aft fuselage then struck an earthen berm supporting an instrument landing system (ILS) localizer antenna 300 metres (980 ft) beyond the end of the runway, separating from the plane.

The plane then headed forwards in a straight line for another 1,200 feet (370 m), breaking into pieces and bursting into flames when it struck the ground.

[9] MK Airlines disputed the findings citing that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was too heavily damaged in the post-crash fire to yield any information.