Boeing 757-251 N515US

Summary

On 18 June 1987 at about 12:56 local time, a Boeing 757-251 registered N515US was involved in an incident near Detroit, Michigan, United States. 123 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

18 June 1987 at 12:56

Classification

Incident

Location

Detroit, Michigan, United States

Nearest airport

Detroit Metro (DTW)

Coordinates

42.4007, -82.9993

Aircraft

Boeing 757-251

Registration

N515US

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Detroit → Boston

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI87IA163

Nobody was 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

A NORTHWEST AIRLINES BOEING 757, OPERATING AS FLIGHT 336, SCRAPED THE TAIL CONE AREA OF THE FUSELAGE ON THE RUNWAY WHEN THE PILOT FAILED TO MAINTAIN SUFFICIENT GROUND CLEARANCE DURING ROTATION AND TAKEOFF FROM DETROIT, MICHIGAN. THE BOEING 757 FLIGHT OPERATION MANUAL STATES THAT 'NORMALLY...APPROXIMATELY 3 DEGREES PER SECOND IS A GOOD ROTATION RATE. ' ON PAGE THREE OF THE FLIGHT DATA RECORDER DATA, UNDER PITCH, IT INDICATES A PITCH CHANGE OF 5.997 DEGREES IN ONE SECOND, AND 4.922 DEGREES IN THE NEXT SECOND. THE FLIGHT OPERATION MANUAL ALSO STATES THAT 'ROTATING AT TOO FAST A RATE FOR EXISTING CONDITIONS AND/OR AN EARLY ROTATION CAN RESULT IN A TAIL STRIKE.'

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.