Federal Express Flight 1406 was an American domestic cargo flight from Memphis International Airport, Memphis, Tennessee, to Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, that suffered an in-flight cargo fire over New York on September 5, 1996. The three crew members and two passengers on board successfully evacuated after an emergency landing at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, New York. After the evacuation, the DC-10 was consumed by fire. After an extensive investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board couldn't determine what caused the fire. Nevertheless, the Federal Aviation Administration made recommendations to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
 The aircraft involved, April 1996 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | September 5, 1996 |
| Summary | In-flight fire of undetermined origin in cargo hold[1] |
| Site | Stewart International Airport, Newburgh, New York, United States 41°30.25′N 74°06.29′W / 41.50417°N 74.10483°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10CF |
| Operator | Federal Express |
| IATA flight No. | FX1406 |
| ICAO flight No. | FDX1406 |
| Call sign | FEDEX 1406 |
| Registration | N68055 |
| Flight origin | Memphis International Airport, Memphis, Tennessee, United States |
| Destination | Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Occupants | 5 |
| Passengers | 2 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Injuries | 2 |
| Survivors | 5 |
Background
editAircraft
editThe aircraft involved was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10CF, serial number 47809, registered as N68055, that first flew on January 21, 1975. It was originally delivered to Continental Airlines as the passenger version on March 17. Federal Express then purchased the aircraft on March 3, 1980 and converted it to a freighter version. The airline didn't re-register the aircraft. The aircraft had logged onto more than 38271 airframe hours and 17818 take-off and landing cycles and was equipped with three General Electric CF6-6D engines.[2][3]
Crew
edit
There were three crew members and two passengers on Flight 1406. The Captain (47), had 12,344 flight hours; the First Officer (41), had 6,535 flight hours; and the Flight Engineer (45) had 3,704 flight hours. Also on board were two FedEx employees (including Vietnam veteran and Eastern Air Lines pilot Frederick S. Olmsted Jr.) sitting in jumpseats.[4]
Flight
editFlight 1406 departed from Memphis International Airport at 3:42am, en route to Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts, with an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of 7:42am.[5][4]
At 5:42am, Flight 1406 was cruising at 33,000 ft (10,000 m) above the state of New York when the Cabin Smoke Fire Alarm sounded in the cockpit. Smoke detectors for several zones of the aircraft's main deck cargo compartment alerted the pilots of suspected smoke, prompting the crew members and passengers to don their smoke masks. Aircraft systems began to fail, and the crew noticed smoke entering the cockpit. The crew informed Boston Air Traffic Control (ATC) about the fire situation; ATC suggested that Flight 1406 could make an emergency landing at Albany County Airport, 50 mi (80 km) ahead, or to land at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, 25 mi (40 km) behind. The crew decided to land at Stewart.
At 5:49am the aircraft was on approach to Stewart International Airport, where airport fire services prepared for the DC-10 to land on Runway 27.[1] The aircraft successfully landed at the airport at 5:54am and turned onto a taxiway, where it came to a stop for the fire services to engage. The crew and the employees tried to evacuate the aircraft, but the doors and cockpit windows could not be opened because the fuselage was still pressurized.[1] The captain then de-pressurized the aircraft and all occupants then exited safely; the flight crew through a cockpit window and the passengers through one of the forward fuselage cabin doors. The fire crews found the cargo prevented them from accessing the source of the smoke from inside the cabin and forty minutes after the aircraft landed the fire burned through the fuselage skin; the fire was extinguished four hours after the aircraft landed.[6] All five people on board survived, though two members of the flight crew received minor injuries.
Investigation
edit
Because the fire damage was extensive, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation was unable to find a source of ignition. On 22 July 1998, the NTSB released its report, concluding, "the probable cause of this accident was an in-flight cargo fire of undetermined origin".[1]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d "In-flight Fire/Emergency Landing, Federal Express Flight 1406, Stewart International Airport, Newburgh, New York, September 5, 1996" (PDF). www.ntsb.gov. National Transportation Safety Board. July 22, 1998. NTSB/AAR-98/03. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ "Accident McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10CF N68055". asn.flightsafety.org. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
- ^ "McDonnell Douglas DC-10 - MSN 47809 N68055". www.airfleets.net. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
- ^ a b "After Smoke Detected in Cargo Compartment Crew Lands DC-10 Then Fire Destroys Aircraft" (PDF). flightsaftey.org. Flight Safety Foundation. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 2, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
- ^ "Fedex 1406 CVR Transcript". www.tailstrike.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10CF N68055 Newburgh-Stewart Airport, NY (SWF)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
