FedEx Express Flight 630 was a regular scheduled cargo flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to

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 Au ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. On July 28, 2006, the McDonnell Douglas MD-10-10F operating the flight, crashed upon landing due to a landing gear failure. The main left undercarriage collapsed seven seconds after touchdown causing the MD-10 to roll off the runway out of control. The aircraft finally came to a stop near taxiway M4 and caught fire. The fire consumed the wing and port engine and the crash and evacuation left the two crew members and the sole passenger, an off-duty crew member, injured.

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved was a 32-year old McDonnell Douglas MD-10-10F, registration N391FE, built in mid-1974 and delivered to

FedEx Express FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2020, it is one of the world's largest airlines in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the name ...

on May 21, 1997. Like quite a few of FedEx MD-10s, this aircraft was originally delivered to

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

(N391FE was originally delivered to United Airlines in February 1975 as N1826U). While in service with United, the aircraft was temporarily leased to two other airlines,

World Airways World Airways, Inc. was a United States airline headquartered in Peachtree City, Georgia in Greater Atlanta. The company operated mostly non-scheduled services but did fly scheduled passenger services as well, notably with McDonnell Douglas DC ...

and

Leisure Air Leisure Air was an American airline based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Beginning as a charter airline, the company expanded to offer scheduled service to major cities as a discount carrier. It operated from 1992 until 1995, when it filed f ...

. With Line Number 169 and Construction Number (MSN) 46625, the aircraft was 32.2 years old at the time of the accident. The airframe was written off as a result of the incident and broken up shortly thereafter. The aircraft was nicknamed ''Chandra''. At the time of the crash, FedEx had 81 other McDonnell Douglas MD-10Fs in its fleet. The captain was 57-year-old Jayne C. Akin, who had been working for FedEx Express since 1979. She had 16,000 flight hours, including 4,223 hours on the MD-10/11. The first officer was 38-year-old Andrew D. Macha, who had been with the airline since 2004 and had 5,000 flight hours, with 300-350 of them on the MD-10/11. Macha previously served for the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

from 1991 to 2004.

Accident

FedEx Flight 630 was a regular scheduled cargo flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to

which was operated by the company's 82 McDonnell Douglas MD-10F aircraft. On 28 July, N391FE was conducting a visual approach to runway 18R which was initially flown with the autopilot engaged and coupled to the ILS. The first officer was the pilot flying for the landing. At 1600 feet the airplane was configured for a landing. At 400 feet the autopilot was disconnected, the final approach segment was smooth. Upon touchdown, the left main gear collapsed without warning, causing the left wing to contact the runway, with the jet veering violently to the left and eventually coming to a stop near taxiway M4.

Investigation

The

NTSB The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) 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 incid ...

launched an investigation into the crash. The final report, released in 2008, cited a fatigue crack in the air filler valve hole caused by inadequate maintenance.

References

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External links

NTSB investigation docket
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fedex Flight 630 Airliner accidents and incidents in Tennessee Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 2006 Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-10

630 Year 630 ( DCXXX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 630 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the ...

History of Memphis, Tennessee 2006 in Tennessee Memphis International Airport