McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 N128AA

Summary

On 25 March 1987 at about 14:30 local time, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 registered N128AA, operated by American Airlines, was involved in an accident near Chicago, Illinois, United States. 177 people were on board and one was seriously injured, 5 had minor injuries. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

25 March 1987 at 14:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Nearest airport

O'hare Intl (ORD)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10

Registration

N128AA

Category

Airplane

Engines

3

Operator

American Airlines

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chicago → Dallas/Ft.worth

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI87MA101

1 person was seriously injured.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

AFTER ARRIVING AT THE GATE IN CHICAGO, FUMES & SMOKE WERE NOTED IN ZONE C OF THE CABIN, THEN THE CABIN LGTG WENT OUT & THE EMERG LGTG CAME ON. MAINT PSNL FND THE #2 APU HAD AN AUTO-SHUTDOWN DUE TO A MALFUNCTION. THE APU WAS PLACARDED AS INOP & THE ACFT WAS RTRND TO SVC. AS IT WAS CLBG, SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, SMOKE BCM NOTICEABLE & THE CREW ELECTED TO RTRNTO THE ARPT & LND. AFTER LNDG, THE SMOKE HAD DISSIPATED & FIRE DEPT PSNL RPRTD NO INDCN OF SMOKE OR FIRE. SUSPECTING ONLY AN AIR CONDITIONING PROBLEM, THE CREW ELECTED TO CONT TO THE GATE. AS THEY BGN TAXIING, A FLT ATTENDANT RPRTD THE SMOKE WAS INCREASING, SO THE CAPT STOPPED THE ACFT & DIRECTED AN EVACUATION. A X-WIND PREVENTED PROPER DEPLOYMENT OF THESLIDES ON THE RGT SIDE OF THE ACFT. DRG THE EVACUATION, AN ELDERLY PAX, USING SLIDE L-4 ON THE LEFT SIDE, WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED BY OTHERS WHO CAME DOWN THE SLIDE AFTER HIM. ALSO, 5 PAX RECEIVED MINOR INJURIES DRG EVACUATION. AN INV REVEALEDTHE SMOKE WAS CAUSED BY OIL FROM A FAILED APU BEARING WHICH LEAKED INTO THE AIR CONDITIONING SYS.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.