Air Transport

By Darren Shannon in Washinton DC & David Learmount in London

Wing and left engine severely damaged as FedEx freighter catches fire following arrival at carrier's Memphis base.

The left wing and engine of a FedEx Express Boeing MD-10 freighter caught fire after landing at Memphis airport last month following the apparent failure of the left main gear. The 28 July accident occurred when the MD-10-10F (N391FE) arrived from Seattle as scheduled at 11:30. There were no injuries among the two crew and one jump-seat passenger. "The damage appears to be limited to the left wing and engine, and firecrews extinguished the fire quickly," says the carrier.

There did not appear to be any problem on approach, but the crew declared an emergency during the landing, according to airport authorities. The General Electric CF6-6D-powered aircraft's left main gear appears to have collapsed backward. The resultant wing fire caused extensive damage to the left engine and almost the entire wing was also affected.

The MD-10F appears to have suffered the failure of its left main gear

FedEx had converted the 31-year-old former United Airlines DC-10-10 to a freighter in 1997 and it was also modified to MD-10 specification, which involved the installation of a two-crew cockpit based on that of the MD-11.

The MD-10 accident was the second incident involving a FedEx aircraft in two days last month. On 27 July, the crew of a FedEx Boeing 727-200Adv (N484FE) had to abort a take-off at Louisville airport in Kentucky and ran off the runway after an apparent engine failure.

Another of the company's MD-10Fs was written off during a land­ing in a gusty crosswind, also at FedEx's Memphis base, on 18 December 2003. The aircraft began to bank and turn right shortly after touchdown and the crew were unable to prevent it leaving the runway. The aircraft was destroyed by fire, but the crew escaped unharmed. And on 31 July 1997 at New York Newark airport, a FedEx MD-11F landed fast and very hard, and finally flipped on to its back before coming to rest. The crew escaped.