Fed Ex Flight 80

I am here to report a fatal and very sad accident to you all. The accident was Fed Ex Flight 80. This report will state activities before the accident and things that occurred during and after the accident. So please read on.

They were flying an MD-11 on there trip. Their aircraft was built in 1994 and delivered to Delta Airlines the same year. The MD-11 came to Fed Ex in late 2006 and started service a few months later. It was carrying 101,992lbs of cargo on that flight. Earlier that day pilots had reported wind shear under 600 meters at 40-50 kmph. so it was some very strong winds. the pilots took that in account but what faced them was nothing in their control.

The MD-11 was built to replace the already popular DC-10. The DC-10 same as the MD-11, but had already proved its ground. The MD-11 hadn’t yet. The MD-11 was hard to control in crosswinds and wind shear(downdrafts). The control surfaces were not adequate for severe weather. Many Pilots complained and the problem was later fixed. The MD-11 also when it were to crash land the jet had a tendency to flip over upon contact with the ground. The jet was an improvement to the DC-10 with fewer crashes caused by engines falling off or other similar problems. The engine problem falling never occurred to date on the MD-11. The MD-11 involved many crashes with Fed Ex because of wind or crosswinds. So now we will look at the pilots.

Mikyle: Stephen Anthony Pino was the co-pilot for this flight. He was also my neighbor though and someone i knew personally. He was a very experienced pilot and had flown for the air force prior to him joining Fed-Ex. He was a well respected person in my neighborhood and also the head of the HOA for the neighborhood. I even remember sky ping him from a former flight in Japan. HE also had a family and some pretty awesome pool parties for the whole neighborhood.

It was really tough on me though seeing him one day and then a week later he’s dead. He joined Fed Ex in 2006.The day of his funeral was a Wednesday, i remember really clearly. I had wanted to go but it was a school day so my parents wouldn’t let me. Since he was former military the funeral was at Ft. Sam Houston and was an invitation basis only thing. My parents went though and showed me pictures, all across the highway, everywhere you looked you saw orange Fed Ex Trucks
Quinn:Captain Kevin Kyle Mosley born March 7Th 1955.  Graduating high school in 1973 he went off to join the marines in 1977 leaving in 1983. In the Marines Mosley flew F-4 phantoms. He then went of to be an air traffic controller at the Seattle center until a proposition with Horizon air came up. He flew dash 8’s and metro liners until 1994 when he came to Fed Ex flying Boeing 727’s and MC Donnell Douglas MD-11’s. Mosley at that point already had 12,800 flying hours in his career as a pilot. Mosley was a devoted son,father,uncle, and grandfather. One day he left for his trip and never came back. He was a great family man according to family and friends.

So lets talk a little bit about wind shear and downdrafts. A downdraft is a rush of air headed downward and then spreading out causing severe turbulence. When an aircraft enters it they are pushed downward and if they are low enough are pushed into the ground. If they are high enough they can recover. an example is an American champion crashed in rocky mountain national park on its way to Aspen Pitkens airport in Aspen Colorado. Here is the link to the site with an overview of the accident, http://www.velozia.com/downdraft-may-be-behind-rocky-mountain-national-park-plane-crash.

Lets talk about Naritta intl airport. Naritta Japan is right by the ocean so you get all that bad weather and horrible winds. like tail winds. head winds slow you, but gives more lift. Tail winds give you more speed . Crosswinds blow the plane to the side and if it is strong enough it can blow the airplane over and cause it to crash. So now lets look at the accident.

They left early in the morning headed for Naritta intl airport from Guangzhou, China. They flew an MD-11 with 101,100 pounds of cargo. They flew through good weather and had a nice flight. They went through the normal flight procedures and talked to ATC. When they get close to the airport they check in with approach and cleared to the tower. The tower later clears them to land and they fly out of the pattern and they go to land. They approach the runway and run into wind a crosswind so they do the necessary things for a crosswind, but then encounter a down draft which shoves the airplane down. They fight to pull up, but the airplane is forced down. The airplane hits the ground and bounces up.

The plane comes back down and hits, the left gear fails and the aircraft rolls over on its back and slides. The aircraft slides for about a thousand or so more feet. Air fire rescue comes up to the aircraft and starts  to pour water over the aircraft. The crew search for the pilots and pull them out. They immediately try to revive the pilots, but it was too late. First officer Stephen Anthony Pino and captain Kevin Kyle Mosely were dead. The crew continued to try and put the flames out. In end it took the crew two hours to put the flames out and even then there was still smoke.

The crash shut down the airport’s main runway for several hours and caused many big jets like 747’s and a-330’s to divert to other nearby airports with long runways.

So all in all, this was a very tragic crash,  but I think we have learned alot from this. I think Pino and Mosely would be proud everyone that we have remembered them.

So channel UPDATE: I am currently starting a new part to my series. I am taking videos  of myself flying in the google earth flight sim using Fraps. Fraps is a free online program that captures video of your screen. So in a little look out for the new series! See YA!

-Co-Writer: Mikyle Christian