The largest aircraft ever to crash land at Chattanooga Airport when its landing gear wouldn’t operate earlier this month was plagued by a leaky hydraulic hose and the failure of a backup system, according to a report and an airport official.
Investigators found fluid leaking from the landing gear of the Federal Express 757 after it made an emergency landing at the airport just before midnight Oct. 4, a National Transportation Safety Board report said.
In addition, a “discontinuity” was discovered in an alternate system for lowering the cargo plane’s landing gear, the report said.
(READ MORE: NTSB investigator arrives to probe crash landing)
“The captain decided that a gear-up landing was the only option,” Jack McAfee, vice president of operations at Lovell Field, said Monday as he read from the preliminary federal report at a meeting of the Airport Authority.
The plane ended up 830 feet beyond the end of the main runway in a grassy area, according to the report and the official.
The three-member flight crew escaped injury despite the crash landing that spewed an array of sparks as it skidded down the runway.
The plane had taken off earlier from Chattanooga to Memphis when an indicator on the aircraft showed low hydraulic system pressure, the report said.
“The gear couldn’t come down. There was hydraulic failure,” McAfee said, citing the report. “There was an alternate way to put it down; they couldn’t do that. After multiple attempts to lower the landing gear, they turned around.”
The captain of the plane made a low approach over the airport’s control tower so personnel could visually confirm the condition of the landing gear, McAfee said.
At 11:57 p.m., the plane touched down on the runway and bounced slightly, he said. But the aircraft maintained directional control down the runway and stayed almost the entire time in the center of the runway, McAfee said.
After the plane came to a stop, airport fire personnel foamed one of the engines to prevent a bigger problem, he said.
First responders closed the main and secondary runways as well as Jubilee Drive near where the plane came to a halt, McAfee said. The flight crew was evacuated and taken to a hospital, he said.
Airport personnel walked the main runway for two hours to make sure all the scrap metal and debris were removed, the official said.
The airport’s secondary runway was opened within two hours of the crash, which prevented a lot of delays in commercial service, McAfee said. The primary runway was partially reopened by 9 a.m., he said.
(READ MORE: Cargo plane towed away)
Jim Hall, the Airport Authority chair and a former NTSB chair, praised the response of airport personnel and other first responders.
“The response we had here was picture perfect,” he said at the meeting, calling on a letter of commendation to be issued to them.
Hall also cited the training of the FedEx flight crew, saying that played a key role in the successful landing.
“Three souls made it through,” Hall said earlier this month. “The airmanship demonstrated protected the community and citizens.”
April Cameron, the airport’s chief executive, said at the meeting the incident occurred during a first-ever conference here that invited representatives of the four airlines serving Chattanooga with the aim of pitching the city for additional commercial flights.
She, too, lauded the work of airport and other staffers in connection with the crash landing.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.