Gusting Winds, Possible Wind Shear May Have Been Factors

Global cargo giant FedEx mourned the loss of two of its own Monday, one day after the fatal landing accident of a company MD-11F at Tokyo's Narita International Airport. Captain Kevin Kyle Mosley, 54, and First Officer Anthony Stephen Pino, 49, were killed when their trijet landed hard on runway 34L at NRT early Monday morning.

"Right now our focus is on doing everything we can to assist the family and those affected at this difficult time," said FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith. "This loss pains all of us."

As ANN reported, video footage captured of the accident showed the plane impacting the runway hard on its maingear, then entering a porpoising attitude that resulted in the plane's left wingtip catching the ground and cartwheeling the aircraft off the left side of the runway.

The broken hulk of the MD-11F came to rest inverted, and in flames. Reported winds at the time of the crash were from the northwest at 33 miles per hour, though a wind shear warning had reportedly been issued minutes before the MD-11F attempted to land.

Investigators are expected to take a close look at those reports. Vaughn Cordle, a former Boeing 777 pilot who flew into Narita for over a decade, said winds at the airport can be tricky at times. "It can get very gusty at Narita because it's near the water, and the winds can change rapidly," he said. "There could have been a sudden wind burst or a downdraft."

Other speculation on the cause of the accident has focused on the MD-11's computer-assisted pitch stability augmentation system, which relies on a tailplane-mounted ballast tank and computer-enhanced elevator controls to smooth pitch movements. That system has come under fire in the past for being difficult to handle in gusting winds close to the ground, reports The Wall Street Journal.

FedEx spokesman Maury Lane told Bloomberg the Narita accident was the company's first fatal crash involving a mainline aircraft; previous fatal crashes involved contract carriers, usually flying small piston aircraft or single-engine turboprop Cessna 208 Caravans. It was also the first fatal crash at Narita.

The National Transportation Safety Board has sent investigators to the scene.

FMI: www.fedex.com, www.ntsb.gov