FedEx Express Flight 80
Encyclopedia
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is the main airport of Guangzhou, the capital of the province of Guangdong, People's Republic of China. Both airport codes were inherited from the previous Guangzhou airport, and the IATA code reflects Guangzhou's former romanization Canton...
in the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, to Narita International Airport
Narita International Airport
is an international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is located east of Tokyo Station and east-southeast of Narita Station in the city of Narita, and the adjacent town of Shibayama....
in Narita
Narita, Chiba
is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is the site of Narita International Airport, the main international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area....
, Chiba Prefecture
Chiba Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region and the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba City.- History :Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture...
(near Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
), Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. On March 23, 2009, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F (N526FE) operating the flight crashed at 6:48 am JST
Japan Standard Time
Japan Standard Time or JST is the standard timezone of Japan, and is 9 hours ahead of UTC. For example, when it is midnight in UTC, it is 09:00 in Japan Standard Time. There is no daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated several times. Japan Standard Time is the same as...
(21:48 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
, March 22), while attempting a landing on Runway 34L in gusty wind conditions. The aircraft became destabilized at flare and touchdown resulting in an unrecovered "bounced" landing with structural failure of the landing gear and airframe
Airframe
The airframe of an aircraft is its mechanical structure. It is typically considered to include fuselage, wings and undercarriage and exclude the propulsion system...
, and came to rest off the runway, inverted, and burning fiercely. The captain and first officer, the jet's only occupants, were both killed.
Accident
After making an approximately 1800 miles (2,896.8 km) overnight flight from GuangzhouGuangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, China, the aircrew made an early morning approach to Narita Airport outside Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. Other traffic landing just ahead of the accident aircraft reported "wind shear
Wind shear
Wind shear, sometimes referred to as windshear or wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere...
at an altitude of under 600 meters," and this information was relayed to the FedEx aircrew. Surface winds at the time of the accident were reported from 320° at 26 knots gusting to 40. After making a hard landing on runway 34L, the plane bounced three times, coming back down on its nose gear first (a condition called "porpoising") resulting in the loss of directional and attitudinal control. The left wing struck the ground as the gear failed, causing the aircraft to veer to the left, burst into flames and invert as the airframe broke up, and come to rest upside down in the grass to the left of the runway. It took firefighters about two hours to extinguish the blaze, which completely destroyed the aircraft and its contents.
Fatalities
The only persons on board the aircraft were the Captain, Kevin Kyle Mosley, 54, of Hillsboro, OregonHillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Lying in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city is home to many high-technology companies, such as Intel, that compose what has become known as the...
, and First Officer Anthony Stephen Pino, 49, of San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. Both pilots were removed to the Japanese Red Cross Narita Hospital (成田赤十字病院 Narita Seki Jūji Byōin) where they were pronounced dead. Captain Mosley, a former United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
fighter pilot, had been with FedEx Express since July 1, 1996 and had accumulated more than 12,800 total career flight hours. First Officer Pino joined FedEx Express in 2006 and had accumulated more than 6,300 total career flight hours. No persons on the ground were injured.
Runway closure
Runway 16R/34L (13,125 feet/4,000 meters) was closed for many hours after the accident, leaving the shorter 16L/34R as the only available active runway. As a result, many flights operated by larger aircraft had to be canceled or diverted to other airports, as 16L/34R is too short (7,150 feet/2,180 meters) for some types to operate safely, and some large aircraft types such as Boeing 777-300ERBoeing 777
The Boeing 777 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet and is commonly referred to as the "Triple Seven". The aircraft has seating for over 300 passengers and has a range from , depending on model...
and Airbus A340-600
Airbus A340
The Airbus A340 is a long-range four-engine wide-body commercial passenger jet airliner. Developed by Airbus Industrie,A consortium of European aerospace companies, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known as Airbus SAS. a consortium of European aerospace companies, which is...
are restricted from using taxiway
Taxiway
A taxiway is a path on an airport connecting runways with ramps, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller airports sometimes use gravel or grass....
"B" (Bravo) which services that runway because of inadequate horizontal clearances.
Investigations
The Japan Transport Safety BoardJapan Transport Safety Board
is Japan's authority for establishing transportation safety. It is a division of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.The agency began on October 1, 2008 as a merger between the Japan Marine Accident Inquiry Agency and the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation...
(JTSB) dispatched six investigators to the airport. The United States's National Transportation Safety Board
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
(NTSB) has said it is sending a team to Japan to assist with the investigation. The crash was FedEx's first fatal accident involving a jet aircraft, as well as the first fatal accident at Narita Airport.
Aircraft history
The aircraft was built in 1994 as an MD-11 passenger airliner, in which configuration it was owned and operated by Delta Air LinesDelta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...
from 1996 to 2004 under the FAA registration N813DE. The trijet was sold to FedEx in October 2004 when Delta retired its MD-11 fleet in favor of switching to more-efficient twin-engine Boeing 767
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
s and Boeing 777
Boeing 777
The Boeing 777 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet and is commonly referred to as the "Triple Seven". The aircraft has seating for over 300 passengers and has a range from , depending on model...
s on its long-haul routes. Following its acquisition by FedEx, the plane was stored at Phoenix Goodyear Airport
Phoenix Goodyear Airport
Phoenix Goodyear Airport , formerly known as Goodyear Municipal Airport, is a public airport located one mile southwest of the central business district of Goodyear, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States....
in Goodyear, Arizona
Goodyear, Arizona
Goodyear is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 65,275...
pending its conversion there to an MD-11F by Dimension Aviation, Inc., Boeing's Douglas Products Division airframe conversion contractor located at that field. The aircraft entered service with FedEx in its all cargo configuration in late 2006 as N526FE.
Similar 1997 FedEx MD-11F accident
On July 31, 1997, another FedEx MD-11F (N611FE) operating as FedEx Flight 14FedEx Flight 14
Federal Express flight 14 was a flight between Anchorage International Airport , Anchorage, Alaska and Newark International Airport , Newark, New Jersey that crashed during landing on July 31, 1997.-Summary:...
was written off after a similar destabilized landing accident at Newark International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
. After a flight from Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
, that aircraft crashed at the airport just before midnight when it bounced twice after a hard touchdown on Runway 22R, resulting in the failure of the right main landing gear. As in the Narita accident, the plane also caught fire as the airframe broke up, flipped over, and came to rest inverted off the runway. The captain, first officer, and three passengers on board all survived the 1997 Newark crash and were able to escape from the burning aircraft with only minor injuries.
See also
- China Airlines Flight 642
- FedEx Flight 14FedEx Flight 14Federal Express flight 14 was a flight between Anchorage International Airport , Anchorage, Alaska and Newark International Airport , Newark, New Jersey that crashed during landing on July 31, 1997.-Summary:...
- List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
External links
- "Interim Report." Japan Transport Safety BoardJapan Transport Safety Boardis Japan's authority for establishing transportation safety. It is a division of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.The agency began on October 1, 2008 as a merger between the Japan Marine Accident Inquiry Agency and the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation...
. "Interim Report." Japan Transport Safety Board. - Video of the crash from the Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
- FedEx Express Releases Additional Information Regarding FedEx Express Flight 80 - FedExFedExFedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee...