McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 N151AA

Summary

On 26 March 1987 at about 18:49 local time, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 registered N151AA, operated by American Airlines, Inc., was involved in an incident near Tuba City, Arizona, United States. 173 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

26 March 1987 at 18:49

Classification

Incident

Location

Tuba City, Arizona, United States

Coordinates

36.0897, -111.1291

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10

Registration

N151AA

Category

Airplane

Engines

3

Operator

American Airlines, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

New York → Los Angeles

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA87IA068

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

WHILE ENGAGED IN CRUISE ON A SCHEDULED TRANSCONTINENTAL FLIGHT FROM NEW YORK TO LOS ANGELES, SEVERAL STAGE 1 HIGH PRESSURE TURBINE ROTOR BLADES WITHIN THE #1 ENGINE SEPARATED WITHOUT WARNING FROM THEIR PLATFORMS. THE INITIAL SEPARATION WAS FOUND TO HAVE ORIGINATED AT A BLADE FORWARD COOLING HOLE AND WAS DETERMINED TO BE FATIGUE INDUCED. THE FATIGUE WAS MOST LIKELY BROUGHT ON BY A DEGRADATION OF THE COOLING AIRFLOW PATTERN WITHIN THE BLADE INDUCED BY AN AIRFLOW LEAK NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THE BLADE COOLING HOLES. THE BLADE SEPARATIONS RESULTED IN DISINTEGRATION OF THE HIGH PRESSURE TURBINE ASSEMBLY AND SUBSEQUENT ENGINE FAILURE.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.