Fedex Flight 647

Running head: FEDEX FLIGHT 647

FedEx Flight 647

Abstract

In December of 2003, FedEx Flight 647 hard landed due to windy conditions causing the right main landing gear to collapse from overstress sending the aircraft off the run way where its right wing caught fire. Both the Memphis City Fire Department and the FedEx Fire Department responded to the scene. The ARFF response from the two departments was as rehearsed and proved training to be key. The two teams worked together to extinguish the aircrafts three dimensional fire in minimal time preserving majority of the airframe and components.

History of the Flight

FedEx Flight 647 was on a Boeing MD10-10F (MD-10) aircraft; an upgraded DC-10 that operates with a two-person flight crew (instead of three) and merely resembles the MD-11. Traveling from Oakland, California to Memphis, Tennessee on 18 December 2003, the flight departed out of Metropolitan Oakland International Airport at 0832 EST operating under 14 CFR Part 121 on an instrument flight rules plan. The flight crew was on a 4-day, 3 leg conus trip conducting line checks for the first officer. This line check was required by FedEx because the First Officer had been involved in an altitude deviation incident. (NTSB/AAR-05/01)

The flight was flown by the First Officer who was with FedEx for seven years at that time. She was rated on the MD-11 and received the proper training required to operate the MD-10 and accumulated 15,000 total flight hours, 1,918 of which were jointly on the MD-10/11 aircraft. A review of the First Officers employment history revealed that she has had several unsatisfactory check rides in the past and was noted as having “generally poor airmanship”. (NTSB/AAR-05/01)

The Captain on the flight was a long time pilot first being certificated in 1978. He held multiple ratings at the time with the only restriction that he must wear corrective lenses when flying. The Captain estimated...