Saw one of their MD-11s sitting at a 45 degree angle about 6000 feet down 30L this morning. Couldn't tell if they had tried to taxi off or what. Ground said they had smoke in the cockpit. I didn't see the slide popped though. There was a tug crew out there towing it off the runway as we were leaving.

Hopefully everyone was alright.

 

If it was an MD-10 then it wasn't UPS. They don't have any of those, but we do at Fedex.

 

It had three engines and brown painted all over the tail. Must've been one of their MD11s. I can't tell the difference between a DC10, MD10, MD11 anyway.

 

MD-11 has winglets. MD-10/DC-10 does not. That's the easiest way to tell the difference.

 

It was an MD11. We listened to the entire event.

When they called they were approximately 120 miles from STL, I did not hack a clock but it seemed like it took 18-25 min to get down.

The crew said they had a "Cargo Smoke Indication" and had "discharged the agents"

There was two jumpseaters on board, and they did ask the tower where to turn off the runway and that they would be exiting the aircraft by using the slide.

As we all know this is an event no one wants to go through, I can say listening to it unfold is no picnic either.

 

It was probably UPS. From IPA:
"an in-flight smoke event, emergency evacuation involving a UPS MD-11. There were no crewmember injuries associated with this incident"

 

18-25 minutes? Dang, that seems like forever. Oh well, airplane is intact and nobody got hurt. Good job to the crew.

 

FlightAware > United Parcel Service (5X) #662 > 20-Oct-2011 > KSDF-KMCI Flight Tracker

Looks like it took 23 minutes from the time they started out of 36,000.

 

Turns out, while standing at the bottom of the slide scheduling called and asked if they could load up the other MD and fly it to MCI, and no, there would not be a premium payment for doing so.

 

From: Capt. Chris Williams, System Chief Pilot

The crew of flight 662, an MD-11 en-route to Kansas City, Missouri, from Louisville, Ky., declared an emergency early Thursday morning, Oct. 20 and diverted the aircraft to St. Louis.

Approximately 25 minutes after taking off the crew reported receiving a Level-3 Cargo Fire Lower Alert. The captain immediately declared an emergency and both crewmembers immediately donned their oxygen masks.

The captain, who had assumed responsibility as the flying pilot, informed air traffic control that the flight would divert to St. Louis. The airfield was directly ahead and less than 100 miles away. Air traffic control provided a direct vector to the airfield and granted clearance to begin descent immediately.

The captain and first officer were assisted during the approach by the two jumpseaters on board. The four worked together to accomplish checklist and communication responsibilities as the aircraft descended. The captain informed the first officer and jumpseaters that upon landing they would evacuate the aircraft via the emergency slide.

The landing and rollout went according to procedures. Once the aircraft came to a stop, the crew and jumpseaters exited the aircraft via the emergency slide where they were met and assisted by ARFF personnel. None of the four were injured.

ARFF reported that they did not find any signs of smoke or fire in the cargo. UPS and the IPA continue to investigate the cause of the alert.

The crew did a superb job and demonstrated tremendous professionalism. They and the jumpseaters worked cooperatively through the emergency procedures resulting in a safe landing.