Safety

Most aircraft crashes take place soon after takeoff or just before landing.  A FedEx cargo plane crashed 1 ½ miles south of the Bismark, ND airport in the past year.  Fortunately, this was not a residential area.  There were at least six other accidents involving FedEx flights in 1998. 

In November, 1998, a cargo jet taking off at 3:30 AM from Louisville Airport struck a flock of birds.  As a result, one of the jet engines exploded and large debris fell on a Churchill Downs horse barn, threatening numerous valuable race horses.  What if that had occurred in densely populated Greensboro/High Point?

According to a CNN report, on July 31, 1997, a FedEx cargo plane crashed, flipped onto its roof and burst into flames during an overnight landing at Newark International Airport.  A Port Authority police officer said the plane was carrying hazardous materials.  FedEx said carrying hazardous materials is a normal part of its operations.  Closer to home, at the FedEx processing center in Winston-Salem a bottle shipped from Baptist Hospital broke and the solution that leaked out of the package caused employees to be quarantined and four of them to be treated for exposure to hazardous materials.  (Winston-Salem Journal, 7/28/98).