FedEx Worker Falls Asleep on Plane Heading to Tennessee, Woke up in Texas

A FedEx employee fell asleep while loading a plane the morning of April 15, and woke up hundreds of miles away.

According to FOX 34, he loaded the aircraft—FedEx Airbus A310—at a Memphis International airport in Tennessee at 4:02 a.m.

The man, who was not identified, woke up mid-flight when the plane was almost to Lubbock International Airport, in Texas.  He knocked on the cabin door and communicated with the flight crew, told USA Today.

When the pilots learned that the man was in the back of the airborne plane, they told him to use the jump seat for landing.

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“This is very unusual,” said Kelly Campbell, director of Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport.

The flight landed at 5:30 a.m.

Campbell said airport police in Lubbock detained the man, but he was not charged. He was later released to FedEx.

FedEx released the following statement:

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.

City of Lubbock statement:

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.