FedEx plane skids off the end of the runway Tennessee airport and hurtles towards a nearby road after reporting a landing gear failure
Footage shows the moment a FedEx cargo plane crashed at a Tennessee airport – after a landing gear failure that nearly killed all three on board.
Chattanooga Regional has since issued a statement confirming that the occupants β the plane’s three-person flight crew β were all uninjured, after bystanders filmed the Boeing 757 landing without the aid of the mechanism.
First responders had raced to the airport a few minutes earlier after receiving a call around 11:04 p.m. reporting that the landing gear had malfunctioned.
Officials said the pilots realized the accident while still in the air as the plane was making its final approach to the airport.
The plane circled the tarmac several times and then descended – where it could be seen sliding off the runway before smoke billowed from its engines. Yet no fire or explosion occurred and the pilots were all unharmed.
Blood-curdling footage shows the moment a FedEx plane crashed at Chattanooga Regional Airport on Wednesday – after a landing gear failure that nearly claimed the lives of everyone on board
The clip shows the 127,520-pound plane screeching down the runway during the forced nighttime landing, before finally coming to a stop in a safety zone just steps away from a nearby street
Chattanooga Fire Department spokesperson Lindsey Rogers issued a statement Thursday outlining the crisis and how it was averted.
βThe plane made an emergency landing and skidded off the end of the runway,β the firefighter said, recalling the chaotic scene seen in the above footage.
βIt came to rest between the runway and Jubilee Drive in the safety zone,β she added, describing an area at the edge of the runway that separated the facility from the street.
In a statement on social media, the department added that “all three people on the plane are present,” while the airport later revealed that the three pilots on board were not injured.
βThere was no fire, only smoke from the engines,β it added.
“All three people on the plane have been accounted for.”
In a statement to ABC News, Chattanooga police said the three people on board were able to climb out of the plane after it landed – something not seen in the circulating footage.
Photos taken Thursday, meanwhile, show some of the aftermath of the incident – which is currently being vetted by the FAA.
The gearless plane was spotted at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport on Thursday morning, after the plane’s three-man crew somehow managed to land it without the aid of the mechanism
Chattanooga Regional has since issued a statement confirming that the occupants β the plane’s three-person flight crew β were all uninjured, after bystanders filmed the Boeing 757 landing.
Photos taken Thursday show some of the aftermath of the incident – which is currently being vetted by the FAA
Despite damage to the plane’s engine and turbine, officials said there was no fire or explosion
Several images show the destroyed left turbine of the 127,520-pound plane, while others show the ladder on which the crew reportedly crawled out.
Others show the plane’s apparently gearless fuselage, while the exact nature of the landing gear failure remains somewhat unclear.
Boeing 757s have three retractable gears: one at the nose and two main gears at the rear.
In the above images none appeared to have been deployed, but that could be a result of damage sustained during the crash.
DailyMail.com has reached out to both FedEx and the FAA for an update.
As for those who had been on board, their identities have not been released.
The FAA, meanwhile, revealed in its own statement that the plane, identified as FedEx Flight 1376, was “en route to Memphis International Airport when it was” forced to turn back.
A few minutes later, the agency said, “FedEx Flight 1376 landed with its gear up and skidded into the grass at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport.”
The FAA revealed that the plane, identified as FedEx Flight 1376, was ‘en route to Memphis International Airport when it was ‘forced to return to Chattanooga Regional Airport (photo)
Chattanooga Fire Department spokesperson Lindsey Rogers issued a statement Thursday outlining the crisis and how it was averted
The crash occurred around 11:45 p.m., officials further revealed β about 40 minutes away from the yet-unreleased emergency call.
Moreover, it comes less than two months after the FAA released a report revealing dozens of near misses between aircraft in the US this summer β a report that also highlighted the anomalous number of incidents that have occurred this year.
There were 46 close calls in July, reports shared by the aviation authority showed, leading many airline employees at the time to fear it was only a matter of time before a devastating incident occurred in the US.
Recent examples include several cases of planes nearly colliding with each other while taking off or landing at major U.S. airports. Others include a near-miss in mid-air between two planes traveling at more than 500 miles per hour.
More recently, major airlines including American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines have removed planes from their fleets as investigations into the potentially catastrophic errors are ongoing.
The incident comes less than two months after the FAA released a report revealing dozens of near misses between aircraft in the US this summer β a report that also highlighted the anomalous number of incidents that have occurred this year, including this one in New Orleans in July
On July 11, two planes taking off in San Francisco almost crashed into a Frontier Airlines plane that had just landed. The Frontier plane waited to cross a runway with its nose dangerously close to the path of the two jets
A third incident two and a half weeks later involved a near miss between an American flight and a United Airlines plane near Minden, Louisiana.
Industry workers blame a shortage of air traffic controllers, forcing many in the profession to work mandatory overtime. The demands of the job have left some burned out and even turning to alcohol and sleeping pills to relieve stress.
A safety report submitted last year stated: ‘Controllers are making mistakes left and right. Fatigue is extreme. The safety margin has increased tenfold. Morale is at an all-time low. I find myself taking risks and shortcuts that I would normally never take.’
“It’s only a matter of time before something catastrophic happens,” the controller said.