fed-ex plane...

[MrFedEx]

Thanks for all of the kind words regarding this tragic accident. Our pilots are incredibly well-trained and FedEx is fanatical about aircraft safety, so something extraordinary must have happened to have lost control so badly. As far as I know, this is the first fatal accicdent involving one of our large aircraft since FedEx began in 1973.

I don't know what caused this accident, but the MD-11 is a very tricky aircraft to land. When they stretched the DC-10 to create the MD-11, the landing charcteristics were altered and I know of at least one other MD-11 incident where the plane flipped-over on landing and was destroyed. Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured in that accident. I would expect some sort of FAA directive on the MD-11 will be forthcoming if this is eventually found to be the cause of the crash.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these two guys as well.

 

[MrFedEx]

Watching the video again....at the very beggining it looks lik they had touched down and got brought back up with the wind... Im not going to speculate anymore on this, Ill wait for the official word.

I just watched the rest of the video and saw the first clip where the MD-11 bounces off the runway and rises back into the air before it ultimately flips over to the left and burns. The aircraft has no flare at all, and hits hard enough where one of the gear could have been collapsed or been severely damaged. This might be the real reason it flipped-over. The original landing approach just isn't right...the aircraft should have had much more flare. Perhaps the wind shear forced it into this awkward attitude.

Whatever the reason, it's tragic, and hopefully enough information can be gathered to prevent something like this from happening again in the future.

 

[Joopster]

Being a pilot myself, I have to say that once you bounce that first landing, if you don't recover immediately that bounce will continue to get worse until you have no lift. Combine this with the wind and you have what you see in the video. Many times crews try to land in less than ideal conditions. A go around probably would have been in order and maybe a diversion. Thoughts go out to the families.

 

[MonavieLeaker]

RIP

 

[mattwtrs]

A sad day for their families. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

 

[unionman]

I just watched the rest of the video and saw the first clip where the MD-11 bounces off the runway and rises back into the air before it ultimately flips over to the left and burns. The aircraft has no flare at all, and hits hard enough where one of the gear could have been collapsed or been severely damaged. This might be the real reason it flipped-over. The original landing approach just isn't right...the aircraft should have had much more flare. Perhaps the wind shear forced it into this awkward attitude.

Whatever the reason, it's tragic, and hopefully enough information can be gathered to prevent something like this from happening again in the future.

Maybe he had a problem with his stab. If he was unable to trim the nose up for landing this would explain his angle of attack. There are two drives back there and if one gets jammed it will shear a pin to keep the stab from moving making it useless.
Most likely he was hit with a very bad wind gust at a very bad moment and made a bad adjustment and should have hit the go around buttons. Sad but thats why they are highly payed, to make hard landings and keep this from happening. Nobody appreciates a good pilot until one has a bad day or one makes a dead stick landing in the hudson.

 

[helenofcalifornia]

A tragedy for any airline, let alone one in the 'family.' I never think of Fedex as the enemy, just as our competitor. (Sometimes the enemy seems to live within our UPS family unit! Jmho). I enjoy bantering with most of their drivers. Thoughts and prayers go out to the families left behind.

 

[dilligaf]

A tragedy for any airline, let alone one in the 'family.' I never think of Fedex as the enemy, just as our competitor. (Sometimes the enemy seems to live within our UPS family unit! Jmho). I enjoy bantering with most of their drivers. Thoughts and prayers go out to the families left behind.

I agree Helen. I get along well with our drivers here as well. They are just trying to do there job. It's funny how customers think that we fight or don't get along anyway. We don't, it's the companies problems not the drivers.

My condolences and prayers to the families.

 

[thom1842]

Horrible event, condolences to the company and families of the pilots. Does anyone know if there was any volume on board or was the plane empty?

 

[dilligaf]

Horrible event, condolences to the company and families of the pilots. Does anyone know if there was any volume on board or was the plane empty?

The likelyhood of that plane being empty is probably nil.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Horrible event, condolences to the company and families of the pilots. Does anyone know if there was any volume on board or was the plane empty?

I would also seriously doubt that the plane was empty; in fact, there was some thought as to whether shifting contents may have contributed to the tragedy.

 

[drewed]

The flight originated in Guangzhou (Canton) in the South of China, its an industrialized area, Id imagine at the very least was half full

 

[MrFedEx]

I would also seriously doubt that the plane was empty; in fact, there was some thought as to whether shifting contents may have contributed to the tragedy.

Nobody is saying anything yet, but aircraft container locks are incredibly strong. If there was a weight and balance problem it would have been evident on takeoff.

 

[drewed]

Yea they are strong, but if something breaks free of its straps, breaks a ULD, or bows in some fashion the locks have little to do with it.

 

[Brown and Down]

This crash kinda hits close to home. I work with UPS pilots daily and to think that could have been them makes me cringe. This should also make people look closer at how they load the containers that are uploaded on to the A/Cs. Could this may have been improperly loaded???? Prayers go out to the friends and families of the pilots...

 

[mountaingoat]

Being a pilot myself, I have to say that once you bounce that first landing, if you don't recover immediately that bounce will continue to get worse until you have no lift. Combine this with the wind and you have what you see in the video. Many times crews try to land in less than ideal conditions. A go around probably would have been in order and maybe a diversion. Thoughts go out to the families.

I'm right there with ya - as soon as you don't stick the landing, it's best to go around and get another shots at it instead of trying to force it in. I'm a pilot, too, and non-pilots always try and get the "inside scoop" on disasters when things like this happen. I just say that we cannot second-guess the pilot's handling of the situation, and I am sure that he/she was doing the best job at the time - I can only think of the thoughts going through their minds when it started to turn ugly. It is very sad.

I don't think that people realize the work that goes into flying. Talking about bouncing the aircraft, going around, flaring, cross-winds, they are all just concepts until you're in the left seat and faced with them and you start to get "behind" the plane. Then it all becomes real. I've been caught in wind shear where my plane was forced down about 150' when I was 200' AGL on short final. It is a rather scary experience, shoving in power and praying that the plane can pull out of it. I am saddened to think that the last thing that those pilots faced was a situation that in 3-4 seconds went completely out of control.

Let's pray that the families of the pilots are comforted in this difficult time, probably made worse by the public nature of their demise.

Blue skies!

 

[Hedley_Lamarr]

WOW! That was horrible, those poor guys. Burning has to be the worst way to go. I always say I'm not afraid of flying, or even crashing, I'm horrified at the prospect of burning up after.....

 

[thom1842]

Nobody is saying anything yet, but aircraft container locks are incredibly strong. If there was a weight and balance problem it would have been evident on takeoff.

I used to work on the Ramp before I drove and I would agree with this. The only way there were shifting contents is if a ULD broke open and even then there isn't much space to move if the bird is full.

Everyone on the ramp here is taking extra care with the loading and weight and balance.

 

[MrFedEx]

This is the MD11 that flipped in Newark in 1997, and not the Narita accident. Anyone see any similarities? This is an aircraft that needs to have it's certification yanked until they get it's issues straightened out.

 

[BLACKBOX]

Does anyone ever think about the insurance premiums are for these aircraft? They spend millions producing these planes and when it gets into into a tragic accident it almost always is a total loss. I hope FDX takes care of the families of these 2 pilots in fact, I hope UPS/FDX takes care of all families of employees who perish while on the clock.