Over or under on this plane going back in service

[Slick silver]

Check out this article from USA TODAY:

FedEx plane catches fire in Fort Lauderdale

http://usat.ly/2eELr3R

 

[Schweddy]

You think Fedex will extinguish their employment?

 

[outtatime]

Get to explain to the SM why their RTB time was so late. Prob get a warning letter for a preventable accident too.

 

[Fred's Myth]

If this were a truck, at our station, the mechanics would send it back on road with the comment "parts on order" or possibly "unable to duplicate problem"!

 

[Route 66]

Huh....never knew you could eject from a DC-10!

(maybe they meant the pilots ejected brown matter from their bottoms)

 

[Star B]

its a dc-10, its done for.

 

[bacha29]

A DC 10? You're putting me on right? No question that's what it was. Making those guys fly that ancient artifact was Fred's way of getting back at them for having to sign a union contract. But you can all relax. Fred's sending a Lockheed Super Constellation down to pick up the pilots along with the salvaged load and take it onto it's final destination , Sidney Australia.

 

[Star B]

The airframe was N370FE. 45 years young.

Glad the pilots made it out.

Airfleets page

Studying the fleet, they'll just pull one out of the storage and put it back in service to replace it.

 

[dezguy]

Well, there go raises for next year.

"Sorry, guys and gals. One of our planes caught fire last year, so we're not going to be able to give raises this year because we had to buy 10 new air buses to replace it." *Gives self 150% raise*

 

[bacha29]

Correction: Not a " Super Connie" he"s sending down his Ford Tri Motor.

 

[MrFedEx]

A DC 10? You're putting me on right? No question that's what it was. Making those guys fly that ancient artifact was Fred's way of getting back at them for having to sign a union contract. But you can all relax. Fred's sending a Lockheed Super Constellation down to pick up the pilots along with the salvaged load and take it onto it's final destination , Sidney Australia.

It was an MD10. FedEx got rid of the DC10s a few years ago, although an MD10 is essentially a DC10 that has been modernized into what is essentially an MD11. An airframe can last indefinitely is properly maintained.

If the aircraft was on fire before landing as some witnesses say, the pilots would be in a big hurry to get it on the ground and get out. This would explain a hard landing and the collapsed gear. If it were me, I'd probably do the same.

 

[MrFedEx]

Well, there go raises for next year.

"Sorry, guys and gals. One of our planes caught fire last year, so we're not going to be able to give raises this year because we had to buy 10 new air buses to replace it." *Gives self 150% raise*

Excellent, grasshopper. You have snatched the pebble from the hand of the master and reached understanding of the mystery that is FedEx. For decades, they have been inventing excuses whenever and wherever they could, and this incident will undoubtedly be used, along with the TNT purchase etc.

May I remind everyone here that Uncle Fred and the upper management team were purchasing used passenger DC10s up until about 2005 and converting them to MD10s, at tremendous cost. We were told that these reinvigorated aircraft would last another 20 years and save us millions in operating costs and avoid the purchase of new planes.

Fast forward to now. The MD10s are going to the desert mothball fleet as fast as Boeing can deliver new 767s and 777s. This plane will be written-off because it would be retired soon anyway. The upshot is that MD10s were a terrible operational decision, and ended up costing huge money because they were fuel hogs when Jet-A was sky high.

What was UPS buying? New 767s and 757s, which saved them millions in fuel costs. And you're right about the raises too. No matter how horrible the decisions from Memphis, there is always money for big raises at the top.

 

[Cactus]

No matter how horrible the decisions from Memphis, there is always money for big raises at the top.

Truer words were never spoken.