Fedex aircraft ditched in the water En Route San Juan to St.Kitts (TKPK)

[TRPGpilot]

"A Small Federal Express Cessna Caravan crash landed off the coast of Saba on Wedneday Afternoon according to reports.
The Small plane operated by fedex was enroute From San Juan to St.Kitts when the pilot indicated to the Air Traffic Comptrollers at the RLB International on St.Kitts that he was experiencing engine problems . The pilot was forced to attempt to divert to neighbouring islands of either St.Maarten or Saba but was unable to make it to either. The plane crash landed in the waters between Saba and St.Kitts."


Plane Crashes En Route From San Juan to St.Kitts | TIMES CARIBBEAN ONLINE/

[aterpster]

Single engine = real trouble sooner or later.

[MarkerInbound]

The aircraft was not operated by FedEx. They owned the aircraft but in the Caribbean it was most likely operated by Mountain Air Cargo.

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by MarkerInbound

The aircraft was not operated by FedEx.

Easy mistake to make, though ...

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by DaveReidUK

Saying this is not a FedEx flight is just nit-picking. It has the FedEx livery, FedEx set the schedule and pay for the flight. All the packages inside have FedEx labels on them. I'm sure if there were any positive aspects to report (new service being introduced, millionth parcel delivered, etc) then all mentions would be of it being a FedEx operation. This whole "it's our flight, it's our flight, it's our flight, ... OMG there's been an accident, it's not our flight, oh no, nothing to do with us ..." attitude, just based on AOC paperwork, just brings aviation into disrepute.

[evansb]

The press release said it was a "Small FedEx Cessna Caravan..." Looks like a regular size Cessna Caravan to me...

[Huck]

The Caravans are owned by FDX and leased to contractors.

[Pontius Navigator]

FFS, all the talk about a paint job and no one mentions the pilot was safe.

[glad rag]

St. Maarten coast guard reacted quickly to the incident and with the assistance of a nearby Yacht, were able to reach the wreckage in time to save the pilot of the small aircraft.

Plane Crashes En Route From San Juan to St.Kitts | TIMES CARIBBEAN ONLINE

[davidjpowell]

That's good news. I had visions of a Pilot standard on an island with only Wilson for company at first...

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by Pontius Navigator

FFS, all the talk about a paint job and no one mentions the pilot was safe.

The link in the first post said as much.

[Flightmech]

Shame on those nasty press people for overlooking the tiny "operated by Mountain Air Cargo" decal over the very prominent FedEx logos. For all intent and purpose it's a FedEx flight, regardless on who is the legal owner and who is flying it.

[stilton]

Wilson was reported missing years ago.


Assumed lost.

[roulishollandais]

Shame on those nasty press people for overlooking the tiny "operated by Mountain Air Cargo" decal over the very prominent FedEx logos. For all intent and purpose it's a FedEx flight, regardless on who is the legal owner and who is flying it.

It reminds me that 80's joke : "We don't already know if Air France will buy Air Alpes, or Air Alpes will buy Air France"

[captjns]

The Caravans are owned by FDX and leased to contractors.

Negative... The aircraft are owned by FedEx and allocated, not leased, to feeder operators based on the criteria of route structure established and amended by FedEx, and individual feeder company performance and maintenance.

[PPRuNeUser0183]

The linked article says the aircraft was "operated by fedex"?? Glad he managed to get a call out in time.

[Miles Magister]

I am more interested in hearing what the nature of the engine problem was after being relieved that the pilot is safe. I always believed that the PT6 was bullet proof so would like to learn about the circumstances of the failure.

MM

[J.O.]

From my experience, I'd call the PT6 "bullet resistant". Find a big enough bullet, you can take anything down. In our case, it was bad metallurgy in a turbine blade.

[DirtyProp]

Originally Posted by Miles Magister

I am more interested in hearing what the nature of the engine problem was after being relieved that the pilot is safe. I always believed that the PT6 was bullet proof so would like to learn about the circumstances of the failure.

MM

Same here.
Glad to know the driver is ok, now let's hope to know the reasons for this.

[No Fly Zone]

I Hope Pilot is Safe

Of course, we all hope that the pilot is OK.
At the end of the day, that is just too much airplane to entrust to ONE engine, no matter how good it may be, especially in an environment where 85%-90% of airtime is over water and the pilots are usually young hour-builders. Sorry folks, there just ain't no functional ETOPS rules for those with ONE engine!