FedEx plane off runway on landing in Lubbock Texas

[Eboy]

Officials say the plane came down at the end of the runway, veered off and caught fire. Loomis said the fire was quickly extinguished.

FedEx cargo plane crashes in Lubbock | AP Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6232195.html)

[misd-agin]

ATR, so technically not a FedEx plane but a contract carrier instead.

[st7860]

FedEx plane crashes in Texas - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/27/fedex.crash/index.html)
Two crew members were taken to a hospital after a FedEx cargo plane crashed on landing Tuesday morning at the Lubbock, Texas, airport, officials said.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/US/01/27/fedex.crash/art.plane.fedex.klbk.jpg A damaged FedEx ATR-42 lies beside a runway early Tuesday at the Lubbock, Texas, airport.


http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/base_skins/baseplate/corner_wire_BL.gif


The injuries appeared to be minor, said James Loomis, director of Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport.
There was a small fire on the plane, the Federal Aviation Administration and FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz said. Munoz said she was not sure about the extent of the damage.
The plane is an ATR-42 twin-turboprop aircraft and landed short of the touchdown zone at 4:37 a.m. CT (5:47 ET), Loomis said.
Munoz said the plane had been traveling from Fort Worth Alliance Airport and skidded off the runway amid light freezing rain.
Neither official could immediately say what caused the accident, and Munoz didn't know why parts of the plane caught fire.


The plane was operated by Empire Airways, which is under contract with FedEx Corp. (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Federal_Express_Corporation), based in Memphis, Tennessee.

[act700]

I'm pretty sure FedEx owns the plane. All the Caravans, ATRs, they're just operated by contractors. So that would make it a Fedex plane afterall.

Hey, does this count as #3??
Continental, USair, and now this. Are we done for a while, then, I hope?!

[neil armstrong]

KCBD, NewsChannel 11 Lubbock |Plane Crash at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (http://www.kcbd.com/global/story.asp?s=9737826)

Neil

[con-pilot]

Raw video from accident.

KCBD, NewsChannel 11 Lubbock |Video (http://www.kcbd.com/global/Category.asp?C=151146&clipId=&topVideoCatNo=108431&topVideoCatNoB=108535&topVideoCatNoC=111448&topVideoCatNoD=108536&topVideoCatNoE=111449&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=3381825)

[precept]

************************************************************
NTSB ADVISORY
************************************************************
National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594
January 28, 2009
************************************************************
NTSB INVESTIGATING CRASH OF CARGO PLANE IN TEXAS
************************************************************
The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a
team to investigate yesterday's crash of an ATR-42 operated
by Empire Airlines for FedEx. The plane crashed on approach
to Lubbock, Texas. The two crewmembers survived.
At about 5:00 a.m. CST Tuesday, January 27, 2009, Empire
Airlines flight 8284, operating a FedEx-owned ATR-42
(N902FX), crashed 300 feet short of the threshold while on
an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach to Runway 17 at
Lubbock International Airport, Lubbock, Texas. The plane
was arriving from Fort Worth, Texas. The aircraft was
destroyed by crash forces and a post-impact fire.
Weather at the time was reported as overcast ceiling at 500
feet above ground level, visibility 2 miles with light
freezing drizzle and mist, and wind 020 degrees at 11 knots.
The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder will be
removed from the wreckage and shipped to the NTSB's
laboratories in Washington, D.C.
Senior Air Safety Investigator Leah Yeager is the
Investigator-in-Charge of the NTSB team. Joining the
investigation are representatives from the Federal Aviation
Administration; FedEx; Empire Airlines; the French aviation
accident investigative authority, the BEA; Avions de
Transport Regional (ATR); and Pratt & Whitney Engines.
- 30 -
NTSB Media Contact: Peter Knudson (202) 314-6100
[email protected]

[Ex Cargo Clown]

freezing drizzle

Oh dear, not again........

[BlueVolta]

Hmmm, icing conditions, freezing drizzle, an ATR...
That doesn't mix nicely unless you are used to operate an ATR in icing conditions... (even then you are sometimes surprised:sad:)

[ranklein]

Maybe so, The ATR does hate ice..

Maybe picked up some on the way down, got the shaker or even stalled when slowing to final speed around 80-100ft..
Just thinking outloud..

[FullWings]

Amazing pics. Looks like they were lucky in having a flat and unobstructed undershoot area...

[MarkerInbound]

"Looks like they were lucky in having a flat and unobstructed undershoot area."

Someone from Pittsburgh got off a flight in LBB one day and said, "You guys sure did a lot of planning here." "How's that?" "You leveled all the ground out for furture expansion."

It is flat as a pool (billiard) table for 50 miles in any direction from LBB.

[Paradise Lost]

I'm sure I spotted my birthday presents in the hold! Guess they'll be late then.

[Carbon Bootprint]

Incredible photos, PBR. It looks like the roof hatch was put to good use.

[Keygrip]

Without wishing to belittle the incident, I wish I had a tracking number for one of those parcels - I'd love to know what it says.

[remoak]

Rather makes you wonder if the the fire started before they landed... which would probably explain the landing.

Had something similar happen to me many years ago... freight packet that was smouldering... had been in correctly loaded as it was (very) dangerous goods... managed to land without bending anything though.

[FougaMagister]

Impressive pictures. Good to know the crew walked (ran?) away unhurt. What a pity - such a fun airplane to fly!

Cheers :cool:

[act700]

MarkerInbound:
"It is flat as a pool (billiard) table for 50 miles in any direction from LBB."

...except for that grain tower conveniently located on final to the north runway (the one with the LOC only approach)!!

[Moose4]

Interesting animation on the NTSB site...their flaps jammed? Did they make a mistake trying to push on to land or should they have gone around? (I'm not a pilot, I'm SLF, btw.)

[PJ2]

The captain's testimony (as provided by the link) was, he did not know what was wrong with the aircraft and did not want to risk the configuration change required by a go-around. There are, in my view, questions to be asked about that in terms of what the flap guage was reading and what the animation shows in terms of control wheel deflection and awareness of the first and second stick shaker, but that is the testimony. Although it wasn't mentioned, perhaps it was the configuration change that brought down an Alaska Airlines MD80 off Los Angeles a number of years ago that was on the captain's mind. The First Officer mentioned that a go-around would have taken them back into the same icing they just left. The throttles in the animation did not seem to move in accordance with the F/O's testimony but there can be many reasons for that. They did not initiate or complete the QRH checklist items for flap asymmetry or a zero-flap landing.

I know from experience that it is exceedingly difficult to recall both warnings and sequences of events after the fact and often the CVR and DFDR can be a surprise to the crew.

[AnthonyGA]

Is the white stuff on the aircraft frozen water, or some sort of frozen fire-suppression fluid, or what? Is it frozen, or just solidified (not due to cold)?

[Nimer767]

Thanks For the photos !

[captjns]

I don't think its us to judge to continue or go around. As the saying goes we were not there. However, speed is always your friend... especially with an 11,000' runway ahead of you.

Good news is that the families still have their loved ones on the planet.

[Shell Management]

Twenty years after it was invented its clear that CRM is still something that some operators just pay lip service to implementing.

Alter cockpit leadership style, NTSB urges in Lubbock crash report | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2011-04-28/alter-cockpit-leadership-style-ntsb-urges-lubbock-crash-report)


Quote:
The NTSB recommends to the Federal Aviation Administration that pilots and first officers undergo simulator or role-playing exercises “that teach first officers to assertively voice their concerns, and that teach captains to develop a leadership style that supports first officer assertiveness.”

The report summary notes the first officer recognized the problem and asked the captain if they should perform a go-around, which was the correct move.

It says her failure to press the issue “likely resulted from the steep authority gradient in the cockpit, and the first officer’s minimal training on assertiveness; further the captain’s quick dismissal of the first officer’s go-around inquiry likely discouraged the first officer from voicing her continued opinions and challenging the captain’s decision to continue the unstabilized approach.”

The report also was critical that the captain’s preoccupation with resolving the problem with the flaps kept him from calling out the airspeed changes to the first officer, who was flying the plane.
See the video here:
NTSB - Lubbock, TX (http://www.ntsb.gov/Events/2009/Lubbock-TX/AnimationDescription.htm)