The aircraft, bound for Santo Domingo, lost control shortly after V1. Upon rotation the cargo shifted aft on the main cargo deck because none of the pallet locks were engaged upright to the cargo pallets on the main deck. However, the NTSB report finds that "A significant shift of cargo rearward at or before rotation did not occur and was not the cause of the initial extreme pitch up at rotation; although, cargo compression or shifting might have exacerbated the pitch-up moment as the pitch increased." The plane was loaded with two empty pallet positions that allowed for a significant shifting of the center of gravity aft toward the empty spaces. Ground crew interviews found that the flight was routinely full of pallets and the locks were rarely engaged in some opinions, and it was further stated this was because they were thought to be irrelevant if the pallets could not move. Pallets are held by rails at the sides from moving in an upward direction, but only the retractable end locks can stop forward and aft movement. The over-pitching on rotation at V1 pitched the aircraft nose up sharply to the point that air flow into the engines was significantly reduced (similar to blowing across the opening of a soda bottle to make it whistle from the drop in pressure) and causing the engines to stall. The plane then pitched back nose-down landing on its belly on the ground. In addition the aircraft was approximately 2700 kg overloaded, although given the pallet weighing process this was believed to be more common than thought beforehand. The pilots, departing from former Runway 27R (now 26L) attempted to recover but the stalled aircraft lacked any forward thrust rendering the control surfaces useless. The forward pitching aircraft rapidly lost forward momentum and lift with its wings cutting the airflow perpendicular to proper lift orientation. The DC-8 crashed on its belly on a field directly west of the end of the runway (about 300 yards) traveling in a straight line.