McDonnell Douglas MD11 N618FE

Summary

On 25 January 2013 at about 11:30 local time, a McDonnell Douglas MD11 registered N618FE, operated by Federal Express Corp, was involved in an accident near Denver, Colorado, United States. 3 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

25 January 2013 at 11:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Denver, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Denver International (KDEN)

Coordinates

39.8567, -104.6603

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas MD11

Registration

N618FE

Category

Airplane

Operator

Federal Express Corp

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Memphis → Denver

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dawn

NTSB number

DCA13CA043

Nobody was injured.

the flight crews failure to perform a takeoff performance data briefing following the final entries into the Flight Management System, which would have alerted them to the incorrect weight entry and resulting incorrect landing speeds. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the flight crew to recognize and respond to various visual cues indicating the airplane's airspeed was too slow, resulting in a higher than normal pitch during landing and the tail of the airplane striking the runway.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

On January 25, 2013, at approximately 0457 mountain standard time, FedEx Express flight 1420, a Boeing MD-11F, N618FE, experienced a tail strike during landing on runway 17 at Denver International Airport (KDEN), Denver, Colorado.  There were no injuries to the 3 flight crew, and the airplane sustained substantial damages. The flight was operating under 14 CFR Part 121 as a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Memphis International Airport (KMEM), Memphis, Tennessee, to Denver, Colorado. According to the flightcrew and a review of dispatch records, during the preflight while in Memphis, after receiving multiple weight and balance (W&B) messages, the captain had erroneously entered an airplane zero fuel weight (ZFW) that was 100,000 lbs. less than the actual ZFW when the first officer was out of the cockpit.  After the captain made the incorrect ZFW entry,  the flight crew did not perform another takeoff performance data briefing, and therefore did not recognize the captain's entry error that resulted in incorrect landing speeds calculated by the flight management software for the flight. During the approach, the flight crew did not notice indications that the target landing airspeed was too low, such as the Angle of Attack (AOA) indicator in the captains Heads Up Display (HUD) that was outside of the speed reference band, and the pitch of the airplane, which was about 7-8 degrees airplane nose up, whereas the normal airplane pitch on approach was 4-6 degrees pitch.   The first officer also stated that during the approach he noticed that his airspeed indication had an amber box surrounding it, which is an indication that the airspeed had reached Vmin and was approaching a stall condition.  During the flare and landing, the tail of the airplane struck the surface of the runway. The aircraft taxied normally to the cargo ramp, and an inspection revealed substantial damage to the skin, stringers, beams, APU compartment bulkhead, and aft pressure bulkhead of the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.