Tennessee: FedEx Employee Falls Asleep In Plane While Loading Cargo, Is Shipped Along With Packages To Texas


It is not uncommon for people to take an occasional nap while at work. However, for one FedEx employee, a brief nap caused him to end up in a different part of the country, nearly 1,000 miles away.

In what can be best described as a hilarious incident, a FedEx Express employee who worked at the global courier delivery services company’s hub in Tennessee found himself in the center of everyone’s attention after he fell asleep inside a FedEx cargo plane while on shift. According to a report by Fox News, the FedEx employee, who remains unidentified at this point, was a ground staff working for the shipping company. On Friday, he was reportedly working his usual shift at the FedEx Hub located inside a Memphis airport when decided to take a quick nap. Also, since it was nearly 4 a.m., no one — including the pilots and other employees working there — noticed that the man had fell asleep inside the cargo bay of the FedEx freight plane.

The man was so deep in slumber, he only managed to get up a few minutes after the plane was in the air – on its way to Texas!

According to Fox34 News, the man panicked once he realized what had happened and made attempts to alert the pilots who were sitting on the other side of the cargo bay. There was a door from the bay to the cockpit; however, the pilots reportedly refused to open the cabin and told him that they would communicate with him via telephone. After realizing that they had brought a man with them, the pilots asked the employee to sit in a jump seat until the plane landed safely in Texas. The plane finally landed at the Lubbock International Airport a few hours later at around 5:30 a.m., local time, along with the embarrassed man.

According to Kelly Campbell, Executive Director of Lubbock International Airport, the Lubbock Police, the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration were notified about the accidental stowaway that came to them from Tennessee. The man was safely evicted from the plane and was later questioned by authorities. The City of Lubbock released a statement that read as follows.

“This morning, FedEx Flight 1459 was en route to Lubbock from Memphis, Tennessee, when the flight crew was alerted to an unexpected person aboard the plane. That person was a FedEx employee from Memphis, who, it is believed, fell asleep on the plane before it departed. Air Traffic Control was notified of the incident by the flight crew, and dispatchers at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport were notified at 5:17 a.m. The flight landed in Lubbock at 5:30 a.m.

“Airport police and operations staff responded to the plane, and Lubbock police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) were notified as well. The person was not arrested after police determined there was no criminal intent. The employee was released to local FedEx officials. There was no impact to aircraft operations at Lubbock’s airport.”

Meanwhile, Kelly Campbell described the Friday morning incident to be of a “very unusual” nature.

Later, in a statement issued by FedEx spokesman Jim Masilak, he confirmed that there was no danger posed to anyone during the entire incident. An investigation into the incident was launched by authorities. The statement is quoted below.

“We are aware of an incident involving FedEx Flight 1459 from Memphis to Lubbock. There was never any danger to our employees or cargo. We are fully cooperating with investigating authorities.”

FedEx did not provide details on the identity of the employee or indicate if any action would be taken against him.

[Image By Alan Radecki Akradecki – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons]

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