I have a theory that one of the problems in the freight business is this - no witnesses. A pax pilot will do everything possible to grease the landing. If that means holding on to the power a bit longer, fishing for the runway, so be it. As I said, these things don't routinely run off the ends of runways.
But a freight dog focusses on flightpath - nailing the ILS until the roundout, planting the mains exactly where they go. Many of our pilots came from military pointy jets and have never in their careers made a landing with a couple hundred spectators in the back. Different set of priorities, maybe....
I know we've discussed this issue here in years past. What is the reason for the continuing string of mishaps at FedEx? And, a related question, is a lower standard of safety acceptable if no pax are involved?
From the outside, FedEx does appear to have more of a military tradition than most carriers. FDX pilots on other forums all seem to have callsigns like Rip, Snort or Blaze and post avatars with some locker room pinup girl or a picture of themselves flying the F-99. I'm told a female pilot was fired a year or two ago for, among other things, insubordination. It's difficult to imagine this situation these days at most other airlines.
Poor performance and a horrible job history have been overlooked in a couple of cases with pilots involved in the attempted hijacking and one of the MEM crashes (A.C. and R.S.). However, FedEx generally has had high standards of pilot hiring for years in contrast to much of the freight world. I see those FDX crews strut proudly through the pax terminal like they were Delta pilots or something.
And, not so ironically, a lot of FedEx FO's make more than most Delta captains in the post 9-11 world.
Is there a macho tradition of getting the mission done that pushes things over the edge of safe operation? As Huck points out, without pax perhaps the priorities are different.
And, as pax operations reach a level of safety unthinkable a couple of decades ago, is a crash every two or three years for a major freight operator acceptable?