FedEx Express Flight 14 was a scheduled cargo flight from
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
to
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, via Malaysia, Taiwan, and
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
. On July 31, 1997, the aircraft flying this route crashed during landing on its final segment at
Newark International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Cou ...
(EWR), inverting and catching fire, injuring all five people on board.
Summary
Flight 14 crashed while landing on runway 22R at Newark Airport on July 31, 1997. The flight originated in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
with intermediate stops in
Penang,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, followed by
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, and then
Anchorage, Alaska. In addition to the
Captain and
First Officer there were three
passengers
A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. Th ...
on board, including one riding in the
jump seat
In aviation, a jump seat or jumpseat is an auxiliary seat for individuals—other than normal passengers—who are not operating the aircraft. In general, the term 'jump seat' can also refer to a seat in any type of vehicle which can fold up out ...
.
During the flight, the pilots were concerned that they would have little stopping distance after landing, and the captain said that he wanted to put the aircraft down early on the runway. The aircraft had departed with one
thrust reverser
Thrust reversal, also called reverse thrust, is the temporary diversion of an aircraft engine's thrust for it to act against the forward travel of the aircraft, providing deceleration. Thrust reverser systems are featured on many jet aircraft ...
(on the left engine) inoperative, and the pilots knew of incidents in the aircraft's maintenance log where the auto-brakes had failed to activate during landings. They had also misinterpreted the runway data, and so believed they had less stopping distance than was actually available.
The landing was normal until the beginning of the
flare phase. The MD-11 touched down, bounced, and rolled to the right. On the second touchdown, about later, the right gear snapped and the No. 3 engine (right wing engine) contacted the runway, with the right roll continuing until the right wing spars broke. The aircraft came to rest off the right side of the runway, on its back, and on fire. All five occupants escaped through a cockpit window. The airplane was destroyed by fire.
Aircraft and crew
![PARIS CHARLES DE GAULLE AUGUST 1996 FEDERAL EXPRESS DOUGLAS MD11F N611FE](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/PARIS_CHARLES_DE_GAULLE_AUGUST_1996_FEDERAL_EXPRESS_DOUGLAS_MD11F_N611FE.jpg)
The aircraft, named ''Joshua'' by FedEx, construction number 48603 and line number 553, was a
McDonnell Douglas MD-11F
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an American tri-jet wide-body airliner manufactured by American McDonnell Douglas (MDC) and later by Boeing.
Following DC-10 development studies, the MD-11 program was launched on December 30, 1986.
Assembly of t ...
freight model, powered by three
General Electric CF6-80C2D1F engines.
Registered in the United States as the aircraft was delivered new to FedEx in September 1993. Prior to the crash, the aircraft had a total of 13,034 flight hours and 2,950 flight cycles (a flight cycle is defined as a takeoff and landing), and had been involved in two prior incidents. In January 1994, when it sustained underbelly damage during a bounced landing at
Memphis International Airport
Memphis International Airport is a civil-military airport located southeast of Downtown Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. It is the primary international airport serving Memphis. It covers and has four runways., effective A ...
. Then in November 1994, the aircraft was involved in a
tailstrike
In aviation, a tailstrike or tail strike occurs when the tail or empennage of an aircraft strikes the ground or other stationary object. This can happen with a fixed-wing aircraft with tricycle undercarriage, in both takeoff where the pilot rot ...
at
Anchorage International Airport
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is a major airport in the U.S. state of Alaska, located southwest of downtown Anchorage. The airport is named for Ted Stevens, a U.S. senator from Alaska in office from 1968 to 2009. It is include ...
. Permanent repairs were made from the Anchorage incident within days of the tailstrike, and permanent repairs to the Memphis incident were made at the next
C check in August 1995.
The captain was 46-year-old Robert M. Freeman who joined FedEx in 1988 when it bought
Flying Tiger Line
Flying Tiger Line, also known as Flying Tigers, was the first scheduled cargo airline in the United States and a major military charter operator during the Cold War era for both cargo and personnel (the latter with leased aircraft). The airline w ...
, which he had previously worked for since 1978. Freeman had logged a total of 11,000 flight hours, including 1,253 hours on the MD-11. The first officer was 39-year-old Donald E. Goodin, who had been with FedEx since 1994, having served as a former U.S. Air Force pilot from 1977 to 1994 and had 3,703 flight hours, though only 592 of them were with FedEx. Goodin only had 92 hours on the MD-11.
Investigation
The
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted a full investigation of the accident and concluded that the probable cause was the captain's over-control of the aircraft during the landing and his failure to
go around
In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for various reasons, such as an unsta ...
after a destabilized flare. Beginning about above the runway, the captain had let the nose lower, probably to achieve an earlier touchdown, then raised it and increased thrust to slow the plane's descent, then pushed the nose down again (around the time of the first touchdown) to try to keep the plane on the runway. These last control inputs were "too late and too large" to stabilize the landing, and the plane's high sink rate and rightward roll compressed the right landing gear strut at the second touchdown, which broke the right wing rear spar and ruptured the right fuel tank.
NTSB safety recommendations
As a result of its investigation of this accident, the NTSB made new recommendations based on their findings and conclusions to improve the safety of operations of the MD-11 type aircraft including that the FAA develop new pilot training tools to "include information about factors that can contribute to structural failures involving the landing gear, wings, and fuselage, such as design sink rate limits; roll angle limits; control inputs' roll rate;
pitch rate; single-gear landings; the effect of decreased
lift
Lift or LIFT may refer to:
Physical devices
* Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods
** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop
** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobil ...
; and structural loading consequences of bottoming landing gear
struts and
tires
A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...
; provide a
syllabus
A syllabus (; plural ''syllabuses'' or ''syllabi'') or specification is a document that communicates information about an academic course or class and defines expectations and responsibilities. It is generally an overview or summary of the curric ...
for
simulator training on the execution of stabilized approaches to the landing flare, the identification of unstabilized landing flares, and recovery from these situations, including proper high sink rate recovery techniques during flare to landing, techniques for avoiding and recovering from overcontrol in pitch before touchdown, and techniques for avoiding overcontrol and premature derotation during a bounced landing; and to promote an orientation toward a proactive go-around."
Aftermath
For his role in the accident, Captain Freeman was fired from FedEx on October 30, 2000. However, the FedEx pilot union criticized the decision and announced that they would appeal it, citing that the crash was caused by
aircraft design flaws.
Flight number
FedEx Express continues to use Flight 14 as an active flight number today; the route has been modified to originate in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, with the stop in Taipei before continuing on to Anchorage and Memphis as destination.
Media
The crashes of FedEx Express Flight 14, and a similar crash in 2009 of another
McDonnell Douglas MD-11
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an American tri-jet wide-body airliner manufactured by American McDonnell Douglas (MDC) and later by Boeing.
Following DC-10 development studies, the MD-11 program was launched on December 30, 1986.
Assembly of ...
,
FedEx Express Flight 80
FedEx Express Flight 80 was a scheduled cargo flight from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in the People's Republic of China, to Narita International Airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture (near Tokyo), Japan. On March 23, 2009, the McDon ...
at
Narita International Airport in Japan, are both covered on Season 14 of
''Mayday'' (''Air Crash Investigation'', ''Air Disasters''), episode 5, titled "The Final Push".
See also
*
Lufthansa Cargo Flight 8460
Lufthansa Cargo Flight 8460 was an international cargo flight that on 27 July 2010 crashed upon landing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Both crew members, the only people on board, were injured but survived.
Accident
Flight 8460 was an international ...
– an MD-11 that bounced and broke up on landing in 2010
*
FedEx Express Flight 80
FedEx Express Flight 80 was a scheduled cargo flight from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in the People's Republic of China, to Narita International Airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture (near Tokyo), Japan. On March 23, 2009, the McDon ...
– an MD-11 that bounced and flipped on landing in 2009
*
China Airlines Flight 642
China Airlines Flight 642 was a flight that crashed at Hong Kong (Chep Lap Kok) International Airport on 22 August 1999. It was operating from Bangkok (Bangkok International Airport, now renamed Don Mueang International Airport) to Taipei with a ...
– an MD-11 that landed hard and broke up in 1999
*
List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
This list of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft includes notable events that have a corresponding Wikipedia article. Entries in this list involve passenger or cargo aircraft that are operating commercially and meet this list ...
References
External links
NTSB investigation docket
*
{{Aviation incidents and accidents in 1997
Airliner accidents and incidents in New Jersey
Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas MD-11
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error
Aviation accidents and incidents in New Jersey
Newark Liberty International Airport
14
1997 in New Jersey
Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1997
July 1997 events in the United States
FedEx