NTSB report released on Chattanooga FedEx plane crash
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — The National Transportation Safety Board’s final report for a FedEx Boeing 757 plane crash in October of 2023 has been released.
The NTSB report contained some worrisome information for one pilot of over 40 years.
Robert Katz, a commercial pilot and flight instructor, raised some questions over the report.
Landing in Chattanooga
His first concern was with the decision to land at the Chattanooga Airport.
Runway diagram with notes of airplane scrape marks along runway 20, according to airport operations. Source – NTSB Final Report
Katz said, “somebody made the decision to say we have exhausted everything we can do in flight, no it is time to land. Why are we landing in Chattanooga with only a 7,400 ft runway when this airplane could’ve been flown back to Memphis? Which is where the FedEx hub is located.”
He believes that the better decision would be to land at the Memphis airport. This is also the destination of the Airline before the crash.
He also added that since Memphis has a longer runway, by almost 4,000 feet, then the airplane wouldn’t have run off the runway and might have been salvageable.
According to the report, Pilot Brian Devries came to the decision to land. Devries said, “I came up with a commit fuel of 7,000 pounds as we were currently burning close to 9,000 pounds per hour. This would allow us two attempts at landing before likely running out of fuel.”
This decision was backed up by his Co-Pilot Richard Summer. Summer added, “We decided on a fuel amount at which we would stop troubleshooting and commit to landing with unsafe gear. Based on our fuel amount at that time, good weather in CHA, and availability of emergency services, we also decided to remain in CHA.”
Katz believes the correct course of action would be to fly on to Memphis and “belly land” there.
He said “Where is the wisdom in putting the airplane on the ground in a remote location like Chattanooga. A shorter runway where a plane could easily go off the runway like what happened only to cause a whole lot more damage. I don’t get the point of putting the airplane back on the ground in Chattanooga.”
Problems with Boeing
Katz had other concerns but the bulk of them were with Boeing. He believes that Boeing has an engineering problem.
Exposed wire braid strands. (Source: Boeing/NTSB Final Report)
The wiring issue located in this aircraft, Katz worries, could be in hundreds or thousands more.
He explained the importance of the landing gear system which is one thing that failed on this particular flight.
“Landing gear is a serious system in an airplane. You could lose the entire airplane as a result of this one system. All retractable landing gear systems have a primary as well as a back up, maybe several backup systems, and a manual way of extending the landing gear and none of them worked.”
Exposed wire braid strands. (Source: Boeing/NTSB Final Report)
Katz calls out Boeing to be more proactive in their engineering.
He said of Boeing, “the fact that there are a lot of issues goes to the quality of engineering of the aircraft itself, further aggravated by the fact that this airplane is so prolific. Not just at FedEx but at passenger carrying airlines in the United States and around the world.”
Katz calls on the airline manufacturer to improve the product.
“I think they have to go back to the drawing board. Now that a problem or potential problem has been identified within a system in the airplane you have to go back to the beginning and re-engineer a better mousetrap .”
Problems with Airlines
Katz worries that if people continue to overlook or ignore these problems, serious risks to air travel will emerge, but he fears airlines won’t make the effort to detect them.
When an airplane is not in the air, the Airline is losing money. Katz said, “I will tell you that every airline will say ‘that first and foremost safety comes first’, but the reality is something different. The reality is that every airline including FedEx is a for profit company. These companies do not turn a profit when their aircraft is on the ground.”
He worries that people’s lives are at risk, and until the word is out there, Airlines will not prioritize safety like they say they do.
Katz said, “I have been flying for 43 years. I have never been more concerned with not only the quality of product that is out there today, but the way it is being maintained, and the way it is being operated by the pilots who fly these aircraft.”
The summary of the final report can be found here.
The full docket includes all the findings from the NTSB and is found here.
