FedEx Express Flight 647 was a flight between Metropolitan Oakland International Airport (OAK),

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the ...

and

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 ...

(MEM),

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-mo ...

that crashed during landing on December 18, 2003.

Aircraft and flight crew

The aircraft involved in the incident was a McDonnell Douglas MD-10-10F (

registration Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

''N364FE''). The MD-10 is an upgraded variant of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 three-engine

wide-body aircraft A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy c ...

. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had a total of approximately 65,375 flight hours. The flight had an experienced flight crew; the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, age 59, who had been working for

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 ...

since 1978 and become a FedEX pilot when the two companies merged in 1989. He had about 21,000 total flight hours, including 2,602 flight hours in the MD-10 and MD-11 series of aircraft. The first officer, age 44, was hired by FedEx on February 21, 1996, from

Mesaba Airlines Mesaba Aviation, Inc. (operating as Mesaba Airlines) was an American regional airline based in Eagan, Minnesota From 2010 to 2012 the airline was a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation with code sharing flights operated as De ...

, where she had been employed since 1991. She had about 15,000 total flight hours, including 1,918 hours in the MD-10/MD-11. The flight also had aboard 5 off-duty FedEx crew members bound for Memphis.

Flight and incident

On December 18, 2003, Flight 647 was scheduled to depart Oakland for Memphis at 08:10

central standard time The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time (CST) is six hours behind Coordina ...

, and after a brief delay due to a package sorting issue, departed for Memphis at 08:32. The departure from Oakland and cruise between Oakland and Memphis were uneventful. The flight touched down at about 12:26 on

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

36R, and almost immediately the right landing gear collapsed. The plane veered off the right side of the runway, catching fire as it did so. The

co-pilot In aviation, the first officer (FO), also called co-pilot, is the pilot who is second-in-command of the aircraft to the captain, who is the legal commander. In the event of incapacitation of the captain, the first officer will assume command of ...

received minor injuries as she evacuated the aircraft, as did one of the five non-revenue FedEx pilots who were on board as passengers. It was later discovered that the non-revenue pilot who activated the emergency exit slide had not been adequately trained in its operation. The handle that was pulled released the slide so it could be used as a raft in the event of a

water landing In aviation, a water landing is, in the broadest sense, an aircraft landing on a body of water. Seaplanes, such as floatplanes and flying boats, land on water as a normal operation. Ditching is a controlled emergency landing on the water s ...

, and the slide subsequently detached from the airplane.

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 inci ...

conducted a full investigation of the accident. It found that although the aircraft had encountered a

crosswind A crosswind is any wind that has a perpendicular component to the line or direction of travel. This affects the aerodynamics of many forms of transport. Moving non-parallel to the wind's direction creates a crosswind component on the object and th ...

during landing, the conditions were well within the safe capabilities of the aircraft. The first officer did not properly line up the plane before touchdown, nor did she slow the plane adequately before touchdown, so that the plane landed excessively hard. As the plane landed, the crosswind caused the right wing to drop approximately six degrees. This was beyond the design capabilities for the right main

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Mart ...

, and it snapped as a result. The

also cited the

for failing to check the work of the first officer. The NTSB further found that FAA Order 8400.10 (Air Transportation Aviation Inspector's Handbook) was deficient in the section addressing assurance of evacuation training for the flight crew.

References

External links

NTSB Report
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fedex Flight 647 Airliner accidents and incidents in Tennessee Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 2003 Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 647 History of Memphis, Tennessee 2003 in Tennessee Oakland International Airport Memphis International Airport

Aircraft and flight crew

Flight and incident

Investigation

References

Further reading

External links