FedEx Plane Crashes in Tokyo

According to reports coming out of Japan, a Federal Express cargo plane crash landed and is burning at Narita airport in Tokyo.

Credit: NHK

From CNN:

Strong winds may have played a role in the crash, said Masaru Fujisaki, an airport official. The status of the pilot and co-pilot was not immediately known.

Video from the landing showed the plane bouncing at least twice on the runway before bursting into flames. The fire destroyed the aircraft.

The plane crashed at 6:50 a.m. (5:50 p.m. Sunday ET), according to Japan’s Kyodo news service.

The cargo plane arrived from Guangzhou, China, and was manned by a two-person crew, according to Japan’s transport ministry.

The plane landed on Runway A, the longer of Narita’s two runways, Kyodo reported.

Twitter: A Tweet That Went Too Far

Ketchum PR vice president James Andrews made quite the mistake when he used his Twitter account from the airport runway in Memphis, Tennessee. Here is what he wrote: “True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say, ‘I would die if I had to live here.'”

So what’s the problem with this Tweet? It turns out that he was on his way to make a presentation on social networking to one of his firm’s largest clients, FedEx, which loves the city it’s headquarters are in, Memphis.

From ZDNet:

You may have seen the drama this week around a social media ad agency representative whose negative Twitter message about Memphis, Tennessee was read and responded to by one of his client FedEx’s employees.

James Andrews, ‘@keyinfluencer‘ on Twitter, was flying into Fedex global headquarters in Memphis to present on digital media to the worldwide communications group at FedEx (150+) people on behalf of his employer ad agency Ketchum.

Upon arrival in Memphis something prompted him to tweet:

True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say “I would die if I had to live here! 2:58 PM Jan 14th

Andrew’s Tweet was picked up by a Fedex employee who emailed FedEx Corporate Vice Presidents, Vice Presidents, Directors and all management of FedEx’s communication department – and also Andrews chain of command at Ketchum:

Mr. Andrews,

If I interpret your post correctly, these are your comments about Memphis a few hours after arriving in the global headquarters city of one of your key and lucrative clients, and the home of arguably one of the most important entrepreneurs in the history of business, FedEx founder Fred Smith.

Many of my peers and I feel this is inappropriate. We do not know the total millions of dollars FedEx Corporation pays Ketchum annually for the valuable and important work your company does for us around the globe. We are confident however, it is enough to expect a greater level of respect and awareness from someone in your position as a vice president at a major global player in your industry. A hazard of social networking is people will read what you write.

Not knowing exactly what prompted your comments, I will admit the area around our airport is a bit of an eyesore, not without crime, prostitution, commercial decay, and a few potholes. But there is a major political, community, religious, and business effort underway, that includes FedEx, to transform that area. We’re hopeful that over time, our city will have a better “face” to present to visitors.

James, everyone participating in today’s event, including those in the auditorium with you this morning, just received their first paycheck of 2009 containing a 5% pay cut… which we wholeheartedly support because it continued the tradition established by Mr. Smith of doing whatever it takes to protect jobs.

Considering that we just entered the second year of a U.S. recession, and we are experiencing significant business loss due to the global economic downturn, many of my peers and I question the expense of paying Ketchum to produce the video open for today’s event; work that could have been achieved by internal, award-winning professionals with decades of experience in television production.

Additionally Mr. Andrews, with all due respect, to continue the context of your post; true confession: many of my peers and I don’t see much relevance between your presentation this morning and the work we do in Employee Communications.