A FedEx plane was forced to crash land late Wednesday night at the Chattanooga Regional Airport after its landing gear failed.
According to the Chattanooga Fire Department, the Boeing 757, with three crew on board, skidded from off the runway before stopping.
“Public safety agencies rushed to the Chattanooga Regional Airport late Wed night after receiving reports that a FedEx757 was on its final approach with a landing gear failure,” CFD said.
The aircraft circled before making its final descent with three people on board. The plane crash landed, skidding off the end of the runway. It came to a rest between the runway and Jubilee Drive in the safety area. All three people on the aircraft are accounted for.
— Chattanooga Fire Department (@ChattFireDept) October 5, 2023
“The aircraft circled before making its final descent with three people on board. The plane crash landed, skidding off the end of the runway,” according to CFD. “It came to a rest between the runway and Jubilee Drive in the safety area. All three people on the aircraft are accounted for.”
CFD said the plane did not catch fire and that there was only smoke from the engines.
“Great work by the pilot and airport personnel, as well as all responding agencies for their coordinated efforts,” CFD said.
“FedEx Express Flight 1376 from Chattanooga to Memphis experienced an issue just after takeoff on Wednesday evening,” FedEx reportedly said in a brief statement. “Our crew is safe and any additional questions should be referred to the NTSB.”
The NTSB – National Transportation Safety Board – investigates every aviation accident in the United States.
There has not been a major commercial airline crash in the United States since the 2009 crash of a Bombardier DHC-8-400 passenger plane, operated by the now-defunct Colgan Airlines, crashed in western New York, killing 50 people.
But the number of “near-misses,” potentially fatal accidents that have been narrowly avoided, are on the rise.
“On average, there have been multiple airline close calls per week so far this year, the report says,” Business Insider reported in August, citing data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
In July alone, there were 46 near-misses in the skies over the United States.
Earlier this year, for example, a FedEx Boeing 767 nearly landed on top of a Southwest Boeing 737. The planes came within 100 feet of each other.
Just before that incident, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 was speeding towards takeoff at John F. Kennedy International Airport when an American Airlines Boeing 777 crossed its path, forcing the Delta plane to make an evasive maneuver to avoid a crash.
“The U.S. aviation system is the safest in the world, but one close call is one too many. The FAA and the aviation community are pursuing a goal of zero serious close calls, a commitment from the Safety Summit in March,” the FAA said in an August statement. “The same approach virtually eliminated the risk of fatalities aboard U.S. commercial airlines. Since 2009, U.S. carriers have transported more than the world’s population with no fatal crashes.”
“The FAA maintains extremely conservative standards for keeping aircraft safely separated. Safety experts follow up on all events — even those in which no collision was imminent or even possible — and evaluate them for safety risks.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X / Twitter.
Photo “FedEx Plane” by Dylan Ashe. CC BY-SA 2.0.
