FedEx Express Flight 80
The wreckage of the aircraft | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | March 23, 2009 |
| Summary | Structural failure and collision with terrain following a bounced landing exacerbated by excessive pilot input |
| Site | Narita International Airport, Narita, Japan 35°45′35″N 140°22′40″E / 35.75972°N 140.37778°E |
| Aircraft | |
| The aircraft involved in the accident, photographed two days before the accident at the same airport. | |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas MD-11F |
| Operator | FedEx Express |
| IATA flight No. | FX80 |
| ICAO flight No. | FDX80 |
| Call sign | FEDEX 80 |
| Registration | N526FE |
| Flight origin | Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangzhou, China |
| Destination | Narita International Airport, Narita, Japan |
| Occupants | 2 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Fatalities | 2 |
| Survivors | 0 |
FedEx Express Flight 80 was a scheduled cargo flight from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, China to Narita International Airport, Japan operated by FedEx Express. At 06:48 JST (UTC+09:00) on March 23, 2009, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11F (N526FE) operating the flight crashed while attempting a landing on Runway 34L in gusty and highly variable weather conditions, including winds in excess of 40 knots (74 km/h). The aircraft became destabilized after the flare, which was executed late and with excessive nose-up elevator input. Subsequently, large, nose-down inputs caused abrupt changes in the plane's pitch and increased the speed and severity of touchdowns during the bounced landing. This resulted in a structural failure of the landing gear and airframe. The plane came to a stop off of the runway, with the plane both inverted and on fire. The captain and first officer were the only occupants, and were both killed in the crash. The airport's rescue crew got the pilots out of the aircraft and tried getting them to a hospital, but the crew succumbed to their injuries before they could receive medical attention.