British BAE JETSTREAM 3201 N425AM

Summary

On 18 August 1995 at about 18:48 local time, a British BAE JETSTREAM 3201 registered N425AM, operated by Trans State Airlines, was involved in an incident near Champaign, Illinois, United States. 18 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

18 August 1995 at 18:48

Classification

Incident

Location

Champaign, Illinois, United States

Coordinates

40.1106, -88.2605

Aircraft

British BAE JETSTREAM 3201

Registration

N425AM

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Trans State Airlines

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

St Louis → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI95IA286

Nobody was injured.

fatigue cracking and subsequent catastrophic failure of the number two engine helical drive (bull) gear, which resulted in an overtemperature condition, bursting of the combustion plenum, and a subsequent in-flight fire.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane sustained minor damage following an uncontained failure of the number two engine during approach. The crew received a fire indication of the number two engine. They secured the engine and discharged the nacelle fire extinguishing system. They landed and evacuated the airplane without further incident. Examination revealed several penetrations of the right fuselage side and number two cowling. The gearbox housing had a hole at the 12 o'clock position in the plane of rotation of the helical drive (bull) gear. The combustion plenum had a hole at the five o'clock position. Fragments of the bull gear were recovered from within the gear box. Metallurgical examination of the bull gear revealed a fatigue crack that emanated from the root radius of a gear tooth. The crack progressed to an area of the fracture that contained 'features typical of overstress separation.' The hole in the combustion plenum was attributed to excessive temperature. No other metallurgical anomaly was noted.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.