DC-10 Loses Engine Cowling Over NJ
No one was injured early Tuesday as pieces of a FedEx DC-10
cargo plane rained down on a neighborhood near Newark International
Airport.
In all, four pieces of the aircraft's tail-mounted number three
engine cowling were recovered in Nutley Township, NJ -- the largest
being a five-foot-by-eight-foot piece of purple-painted metal that
was found by a local police officer.
"When he went to move it, he realized, this is not a piece of a
car," Lt. Steven Rogers said, adding the patrolman who made the
discovery, Harry Krzyenfski, then spotted the "FedEX" logo on the
cowling piece.
"When they say they make overnight deliveries, they really mean
it," Rogers deadpanned, before adding it was fortunate the incident
occurred at night, instead of during the day when the piece could
have "gone through a car and maybe killed somebody."
The DC-10 (file photos of type, above and below) flew on to
Oakland, CA. It's unclear at this time why the cowling came off, or
whether the plane's crew was aware the pieces had fallen off the
aircraft. FAA investigators were inspecting the aircraft in Oakland
Wednesday.
"We regret that the incident occurred and are just grateful
there were no injuries or property damage as a result," said
Federal Express spokeswoman Sally Davenport to the NorthJersey.com
news service.
Another piece of the plane's cowling was found by a 21-year-old
bartender who was returning home at about 2:40 am Tuesday morning.
At the time, Lauren Suckocki says she thought the debris on her
parents' yard was from an automobile accident -- until she saw the
FedEx colors.
The metal piece did not stay on the family's property for long,
Suckocki said.
"Everybody asked me, 'So how'd they get rid of it?' " Lauren
Suchocki recalled. "I said, 'Well, the FedEx guys came and picked
it up.'"
** Report created 3/29/2006 Record 1
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: FDX1020
Make/Model: DC10 Description: DC-10
(KC-10 Extender, KDC-10)
Date: 03/28/2006 Time: 0800
Event Type: Incident Highest Injury:
None Mid Air: N Missing:
N
Damage: Minor
LOCATION
City: OAKLAND State: CA Country:
US
DESCRIPTION
FEDERAL EXPRESS FEDEX1020, A BOEING MCDONNELL DOUGLAS DC10
ACFT, WHILE
INFLIGHT, A SECTION OF THE ENGINE COWLING FELL OFF INTO A
BACKYARD, NO
INJURIES, ACFT LANDED WITHOUT INCIDENT, OAKLAND,
CA
INJURY DATA Total
Fatal: 0
# Crew: 0 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Grnd:
Fat: 0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
WEATHER: NOT REPORTED
OTHER DATA
Departed: NEWARK,
NJ
Dep Date: Dep.
Time:
Destination: OAKLAND,
CA
Flt
Plan:
Wx Briefing:
Last Radio Cont:
Last Clearance:
FAA FSDO: OAKLAND, CA
(WP27)
Entry date: 03/29/2006