- The FedEx flight slid onto the runway and washed out onto the runway.
A Boeing 767 cargo plane crashed upon landing in Turkey this morning after its landing gear failed upon landing.
The flight, operated by the US postal service FedEx, took off from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport early this morning and was heading to Istanbul when the pilot realized that the landing gear was not working properly.
Shocking images showed the moment the plane attempted an emergency landing, crashing onto the runway and scraping its nose on the concrete.
Sparks flew from the plane’s shattered fuselage as it creaked on the runway as smoke billowed from behind.
Fortunately, firefighters and rescue teams were already waiting at the scene, and Turkey’s Ministry of Transport sent emergency teams as soon as it learned that the pilot’s landing gear was not working.
First responders flocked to surround the plane when it stopped and immediately sprayed it with firefighting foam to prevent a potential fire from breaking out.
The crash will only compound Boeing’s woes after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it opened an investigation into the company after workers at a South Carolina plant falsified inspection records on certain 787 planes.
Shocking images showed the moment the plane attempted an emergency landing, crashing onto the runway and scraping its nose on the concrete.
The plane was sprayed with firefighting foam when it came to a stop.
No one was injured in today’s incident and the crew evacuated the plane safely, said Abdulkadir Uraloglu, Turkey’s transport and infrastructure minister.
The runway where the plane landed was closed while the plane was removed, he said.
Boeing already faces intense scrutiny amid a series of mishaps and controversies over alleged quality control issues.
In an email sent to Boeing employees in South Carolina on April 29, Scott Stocker, who heads the 787 program, said a worker observed an “irregularity” in a required wing-body joint test and told him. He informed his manager.
“After receiving the report, we quickly reviewed the matter and discovered that several people had been violating Company policies by failing to perform a required test, but recording the work as completed,” Stocker wrote.
Boeing notified the FAA and is taking “prompt and serious corrective action with several teammates,” Stocker said.
No planes have been taken out of service, but having to perform the out-of-service test on planes will slow delivery of planes still being built at the final assembly plant in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Boeing must also create a plan to board planes already flying, the FAA said.
The 787 is a twin-aisle airliner that debuted in 2011 and is primarily used for long international flights.
“The company voluntarily informed us in April that it may not have completed required inspections to confirm proper attachment and grounding where the wings attach to the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner aircraft,” the agency said in a written statement.
“The FAA is investigating whether Boeing completed inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records.”
In April, a Boeing whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, also testified at a congressional hearing that the company had taken manufacturing shortcuts to produce 787s as quickly as possible.
The company was already under intense pressure since a Boeing 737 Max door plug flew off during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, leaving a gaping hole in the plane.
The crash halted progress Boeing appeared to be making as it recovered from two deadly Max jet crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia, in which 346 people died, are also back in the spotlight.
Families of some of the victims have pressured the Justice Department to revive a criminal fraud charge against the company by determining that Boeing’s continued failures violated the terms of a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement.
