Original Blog Entry: FedEx plane veers off runway, catches fire

NBey6 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:42:09 GMT

Crew members escape after aircraft lands in freezing mist at Texas airport

The Associated Press

updated 10:37 a.m. ET, Tues., Jan. 27, 2009

LUBBOCK, Texas - A FedEx cargo plane landing at a Texas airport veered off the runway, crashed and caught fire, but both crew members walked away from the wreckage, officials said.

Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport director James Loomis said the ATR-42 twin-turboprop aircraft landed just after 4:30 a.m. Tuesday.

He said crews extinguished the fire quickly.

The plane landed in a freezing mist, but Loomis said weather was not a factor in the incident.

The crew members were being evaluated at University Medical Center in Lubbock.

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