Plane's tail struck Halifax runway twice Last Updated Fri, 15 Oct 2004 12:17:05 EDT HALIFAX - The tail of a cargo-laden 747 jet that crashed early Thursday struck the runway twice before snapping off as the plane tried to take off from Halifax airport, investigators said Friday. Transportation Safety Board investigator Bill Fowler said it appears the tail of the MK Airlines Ltd. plane made contact with the runway twice: the first time about 250 metres from the end of the runway, then again about 80 metres further along the runway. The plane's fuselage came to rest a kilometre past the runway. "The indication is there was prolonged contact of the aft fuselage with the runway and off the end of the runway," Fowler said during a briefing Friday morning. He said the plane then became "briefly airborne," striking an antenna mounted on a berm (a raised bank of earth) about 300 metres from the end of the runway. FROM OCT. 14, 2004: Probe begins into deadly cargo jet crash Now missing its tail and out of control, the main fuselage travelled through a wooded area at the end of the runway, snapping off treetops and power lines before coming to a rest in a blazing heap a kilometre away. "The main part of the fuselage continued... ballistically until the final impact point," Fowler he said. He said investigators were looking into a report from an airport worker that the plane didn't use the entire length of the 2,700-metre runway, but entered it at the 2,000-metre mark. "We do not have any information that there was an early takeoff point ? that is, substantially early," said Fowler. All seven crew members on board the plane were killed. Fowler said most of the remains of the victims, from Zimbabwe and South Africa, have been removed from the wreckage and are in a secure area. Interactive: Cargo Plane Crash When asked whether the Halifax airport has a ground radar system, which lets controllers see aircraft movement in real time, Fowler said he didn't believe so. He wasn't sure whether most major Canadian airports have ground radar systems. One of the airport's runways remains closed, said Halifax airport spokesperson Pat Chapman. Some of the navigational equipment damaged in the crash cannot be replaced until the end of November and the airport is working to ensure service isn't disrupted, she said. John Power, the operations manager for MK Airlines, defended what he called the company's "excellent" safety record during Friday morning's briefing. Thursday's crash was the company's fourth accident in the 14 years he has worked for them, he said. The other crashes, in 1992, 1996 and 2001, all took place in Nigeria, he said. One person was killed in one of the crashes. The jet had been taking a load of lawn tractors and seafood to Spain when the crash happened.