FedEx Express Flight 14

FedEx Flight 14

FedEx Flight 14 after fire was extinguished.
Accident summary
Date	July 31, 1997
Type	Pilot error
Site	Newark International Airport, Newark, New Jersey, United States 40.6872°N 74.1742°W / 40.6872; -74.1742
Passengers	3
Crew	2
Injuries	5
Fatalities	0
Survivors	5 (all injured)
Aircraft type	MD-11F
Operator	FedEx
Tail number	N611FE

Federal Express (FedEx Express) flight 14 was a flight between Anchorage International Airport (ANC), Anchorage, Alaska and Newark International Airport (EWR), Newark, New Jersey that crashed during landing on July 31, 1997.

Summary

Flight 14 crashed while landing on runway 22R at Newark on July 31, 1997. The flight originated in Singapore with intermediate stops in Penang, Malaysia followed by Taipei, Taiwan, and then Anchorage, Alaska. In addition to the Captain and First Officer there were 3 passengers including one riding in the jump seat.

During the flight, the pilots were concerned that they would have little stopping distance after landing, and the captain said that he wanted to put the aircraft down early on the runway. The aircraft had departed with one thrust reverser inoperative, and the pilots knew of incidents in the craft's maintenance log where the auto-brakes had failed to activate during landings. They had also misinterpreted the runway data, and so believed they had less stopping distance than was actually available.

The landing was normal through the beginning of the flare phase. The MD-11 touched down, bounced, and rolled to the right. On the second touchdown, about 1,100 feet later, the No. 3 engine (right wing engine) contacted the runway, with the right roll continuing until the right wing spars broke. The aircraft came to rest off the right side of the runway, on its back, and on fire. All five occupants escaped through a cockpit window. The airplane was destroyed by fire.

Investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board conducted a full investigation of the accident and concluded that the probable cause was the captain's over-control of the aircraft during the landing and his failure to go around after a destabilized flare. Beginning about 17 feet above the runway, the captain had let the nose lower, probably to achieve an earlier touchdown, then raised it and increased thrust to slow the plane's descent, then pushed the nose down again (around the time of the first touchdown) to try to keep the plane on the runway. These last control inputs were "too late and too large" to stabilize the landing, and the plane's high sink rate and rightward roll compressed the right landing gear strut at the second touchdown, which broke the right wing rear spar and ruptured the right fuel tank.

See also

• FedEx Express Flight 80
• China Airlines Flight 642
• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft

External links

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
• Images of the crash on Airliners.net