FedEx 767 landing without left main gear extended
 

Nice job. Pat on the back.

They apparently tried manual gear extension, the main gear doors appeared to be open on landing.

As far as the cockpit rope evacuation, remember one of the FedEx MEM crashes where the crew was faulted for tossing out flight kits and Christmas presents before all the folks were out of the plane? Can't blame them for being anxious to get out with a report of flames trailing the plane on landing. Do the FedEx B-763's have door slides? Or inertial reels on the entry door?

Well done and nicely stopped on the centreline:ok:

Personally, being the big uncoordinated Gumby (Monty Python fans will know this one:)) that I am I would definitely have tried the slide first! Those evacuation ropes really don't agree with me unless there's 1,500^ licking at my nether regions!

Airbubba

Assuming these are the 'new build' 767Fs (i.e. not some STC conversion), yes the main door has a slide. But the regs say you need to assume half the exits are blocked, so you need at least two ways out - hence the ropes out the flight deck windows. No idea why they didn't go out the main door though...

You might want to check that, the UPS B-763's are not conversions and I'm told they don't have slides, they have inertia reels.

My guess is that they saw the glow of the sparks on the left side and didn't want to take the chance of evacuating into a wing fire or something.

I figured it was a new build freighter. I've done flight tests on FedEx 767Fs and they most definitely had a slide on the main door.
Where are you hearing 'no slides'? As I noted before, the regs say you need (at least) two ways out.

How many of the windows open ?

The reporter in the clip above mentioned that the sparks resulted from one of the engines that was scraping "on the pavement". Weird runway at LAX if it has a pavement. Who is it there for? Has it a zebra crossing as well?

Yeah, I know. Sorry.

The new FedEx B-763's probably all have slides then as you said.

I meant that the UPS B-763's apparently don't have slides. Here's a picture of the entry door area in an article by B-763F driver Ken Hoke.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....65d9af5032.jpg

Flying in Cargo Class: The Anatomy of an Air Freighter - NYCAviationNYCAviation

Yes, built as a freighter in 2017.

This video of the approach and landing appears to shown both MLG doors open:



One of the crew reportedly suffered a foot injury during the evacuation.

rb14

If the US reporter had meant what we Brits call a pavement, he'd have called it a sidewalk. :O

Across the Pond, pavement simply means a hard, paved surface. Like a runway, in fact. As in PCN.

B767F jock here

I confirm that ours (all factory-built freighters) don't have an escape slide, the two options are inertial reels close to the main door, or the ropes at the cockpit windows. Maybe it is an option now and FedEx opted for it.

Thanks, that's what I thought.

Why to EVAC via cockpit window ropes?
Was there a fire?

Dear Yoda,

The inertial reels on the L1 door may not have worked as advertised due to the left wing down attitude. The left side of the jet is also closest to the (perceived) threat. Hence, the cockpit escape rope on the FO side was used.

I think a few of us are learning something new today. No slides on some large aircraft. I never would have guessed.
As for the idea of the inertial reel not working at door L1 due to left wing down, is it really that much closer to the ground than door R1?

That’s a good question. But it’s safe to assume they were talking extensively to Flight Ops during the hold. There is no R1 on the FedEx 76 freighter, so the alternative is L1 inertial reel or the escape ropes in the cockpit.

The inertial reel set up on the 74F involves a diaper harness and a jump. If you reach the ground before the deceleration, it would really suck. I assume the same level of suck would occur on a canted over 76.

Although; seeing one of the flight crew doing the snail crawl away from the jet, with the CFR guy in hot pursuit wasn’t funny either. Unless you’ve got a slightly sick sense of humor 🤞.

Second thing I've learnt today. No Right 1 door on the freighter.

Found the video below. Interesting watch. It's a looong way down from the roof.

LiveATC edited audio from SOCAL Approach, the final tower frequency of 127.85 apparently did not record.

Zip files which will open on most computers, not on most phones or tablets.

__________________________________________

The Part 2 file posted here earlier didn't have both sides of the ATC conversation about whether to land gear up, a better edit of the final vectors for the landing is posted below.

LA Tower discussing the low approaches with ground vehicles.

One can oberve quite nicely from that vid, that this type of inertia reel does not block when passing locking speed - as the ones for high altitude workers do, as does your car seatbelt - but instead gives a constant rate of descend (depending on the weight attached). So no, the height difference would not have been a problem.

The earlier mishap was FedEx 647 in 2003.

From the NTSB report:

This is the FedEx 647 witness video:

Lovely job. Practice for this, in the sim, a lot , but these guys show us how to put all that training into calm, professional, use. Object lesson. Well done.

I heard (somewhere) that one or other of the crew broke his heel.
That is a quite a nasty injury, my father got it via Royal Air Force training.
Took ages to recover.

I have used the 747 inertia reel and found it to be a very comfortable descent! Near constant speed the whole way down.

Didn't see this posted.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....38d91e9b97.png


Photo from LAFD Talk on Twitter

Also video during daylight

The bank looks a lot steeper on the frontal shot than on the other videos.

Does anyone actually train escape rope evacuations? We only had to try that once, many moons ago, from a much lower airplane, IIRC with a gymnastic mat placed on the floor (and a maintenance technician guarding the pitot tubes). It certainly didn't look elegant and I'd imagine it to be quite a challenge from a higher plane (and from any plane for someone who doesn't regularly use ropes and maybe with hands trembling after a hair-raising landing).

Yep, during type training on 74 classic and 400 and md11, the diaper on the 74 is a pain in the ... but the descent is very controlled, worked as advertised. And you have the slide on the upperdeck, just give it a good kick ...

There were five reels installed on the B747 Classic. I remember one captain telling us that there were none for us. If needed, he’d have one in each hand, one foot in each of the other two and the fifth between his teeth. Just to be sure of a soft landing.

Hmmm.... I wonder if this aeroplane had a brake change prior to this flight....:}

For a change, here's a reporter using correct terminology. In the United Kingdom, we refer to the hard surfaces used by aircraft at aerodromes as 'pavement', certainly in my 31 years in Ops at major UK airports. It's ICAO-speak, too.

It's also insightful that the reporter considered the potential damage to the pavement and the consequent debris that might ensue. Perhaps he's an old Airfield Ops hand.
Every pod scrape and wheel rim gouging not only creates damage and FOD at the time but breaks the sealed surface allowing erosion and stone hazard until the runway is resurfaced. Routine runway inspections really have to concentrate on these areas. The most useful bit of kit in an Operations vehicle is a dust pan and brush...

A few thoughts on aircraft recovery.

1. Fuel. Before recovery, it's a good idea to get as much fuel off as possible to reduce lifting effort required. Even at the end of a flight, I'd expect there to be several tonnes remaining. I'd doubt if LAX has any more bowsers available than large UK airports, i.e. none as all refuelling is done through on-stand hydrants. Even when a bowser of sufficient capacity is available, the fuel comeing off is considered contaminated and unless the airline agrees for it to be put in another of its own aircraft, disposal is problematic. Expect at least 24 hours for this to be arranged.
2. Removal of load. Really tricky, probably near-impossible with fuselage at an angle, to get equipment on. Also, likely requires power to aircraft to operate doors, powered floor etc (does the 767F have powered floor?)
3. Lifting the wing. The best method is airbags. Hopefully the various airports on the West coast have got together to pool some kit, it's not worth each airport having their own. The last lift of this nature I know a lot about was the Virgin A340 at Heathrow. The lift here was seriously hampered by the geometry of the domed runway pavement. Each time they attempted a jack, the angles would change with the danger of the whole thing slipping off. That recovery took nearly 3 days. Don't even think about strops and cranes. It's difficult to impossible to strop a fuselage without buckling it.
4. Repairs in situ to enable towing. Under-wing props are massive things, even getting one or two on-site is a big undertaking. Then there's the problem of getting a level surface (see above) and securing the site for safe working under the wing.
5. Assessing damage in situ before towing. Engines are held on by very few fastenings and are easily compromised - check out DC10 loss of engine on departure, O'Hare 1979. Nasty business if the pod falls off during the tow!

6. Actually, might be number 1, thinking about it. Getting someone to agree to do all this work in expectation of getting paid. Do FedEx have a comprehensive maintenance agreement with anyone at LAX? Do they have the resources to do the work? Will they insist on shipping in their own people and kit from elsewhere? It can be a nightmare getting these agreements in place. The airport authority have a vested interest in getting the wreck off their property although as the reporter said, it's quiet at the moment so not the same pressure as in normal times.

I guess now the initial drama and excitement have died down, we'll not hear too much about the detail of the recovery. Pity, this old Airfield Ops hand would like to see how they tackle this one.

It's also what those in the roads sector and engineering in general refer to the road surface as. E.g. we have Pavement Management Systems and similar asset management tools, which deals with the entire paved area rather than just the occasional bit of what laymen would call a pavement. Which, incidentally, are actually called footways.

Why no slide, is it weight saving or disarming before ground crews pop the door.? The rope out the window is barely better than nothing I guess but would hate to be lying injured under a burning aircraft.

I've updated the LiveATC audio I posted above with a better edit of the vectors for the emergency landing. The original Part 2 file did not have the correct edited ATC audio.

Has the aircraft been recovered? Tried googling for any info - non found. Love to see time-lapse video or similar

25R currently in use for departures.

mightyauster,

Where are you going with this? I am intrigued.