A FedEx Federal Express McDonnell Douglas MD-10 diverted to Tulsa International Airport in Oklahoma due to a fire indication in the cargo bay. The aircraft was operating a flight between Sacramento, California, and Memphis, Tennessee, at FL310 when the incident took place. Let’s investigate further.

What happened?

The incident took place on Tuesday. FedEx was operating the flight FX463 between Sacramento and Memphis onboard a McDonnell Douglas MD-10, registration N306FE.

According to The Aviation Herald, the aircraft was en route at FL310 about 40 nautical miles northwest of Tulsa, Oklahoma, when the crew decided to divert to Tulsa due to a fire indication in the cargo bay. Three people were onboard.

While approaching to Tulsa Airport, the crew reported an additional cargo fire alert in the aft cargo area. After that, it requested to land on runway 18L, doing it safely at around 18:26 UTC, 18 minutes after leaving FL310.

The Tulsa air traffic controllers reported seeing no smoke from the aircraft. Nonetheless, the emergency services reported a heat signature. This prompted the crew to evacuate the plane, which they did safely.

The Tulsa airport authorities closed both runways for about 30 minutes while emergency services put the fire out. After that, the aircraft was towed to the cargo apron. Tulsa has around 352 weekly flights from six commercial airlines (American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Allegiant Air, Breeze Airways, Southwest, and United).

The Tulsa International Airport says no one was injured.

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A FedEx Express MD-10 was diverted to Tulsa due to a fire onboard. Photo: Getty Images.

The aircraft

The aircraft involved in this incident was a McDonnell Douglas MD-10-30(F) currently operated by FedEx Express. Its registration is M306FE, and it is confirmed to be retired in 2022. FedEx will retire its remaining MD-10s between 2022 and 2023.

Throughout its life, this MD-10 has been operated by FedEx Express. The airline first ordered the aircraft on May 1, 1984. It was delivered by McDonnell Douglas in January 1986.

Since the incident, the aircraft has been grounded in Tulsa. FedEx usually operates this MD-10 between Sacramento and Memphis, although it also flies to other destinations such as Austin, El Paso, Indianapolis, and even Toronto.

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FedEx has a fleet of over 400 cargo aircraft. Photo: FedEx.

FedEx Express’ fleet

FedEx Express has a fleet of 412 aircraft, the largest cargo fleet in the entire world.

The fleet from FedEx Express is composed of 66 Airbus A300-600Fs, two Boeing 747-400s, 108 Boeing 757-200(SF)s, 114 Boeing 767-300Fs, 51 Boeing 777-200Fs, ten MD-10-30(F)s, and 61 MD-11Fs.

FedEx Express is the largest operator of all these freighter submodels.

The MD-10-30(F) is a cargo aircraft with an MTOW of 267,600 kg (589,957 lb). According to data by ch-aviation, there are currently 12 MD-10-30(F) aircraft distributed between three operators worldwide. FedEx Express is the largest operator. It has ten units, including the one that recently had an incident in Tulsa. Orbis, a US carrier has one, and Transporte Aéreos Bolivianos has the other.

The number of active MD-10-30(F) aircraft has been decreasing since 2000 when there were 18 active units. Currently, there are only nine active aircraft.

What do you think about this incident? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: The Aviation Herald, ch-aviation, Cirium.