Douglas DC8-62 N804AX

Summary

On 31 December 1996 at about 03:26 local time, a Douglas DC8-62 registered N804AX was involved in an incident near Orlando, Florida, United States. 5 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

31 December 1996 at 03:26

Classification

Incident

Location

Orlando, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Orlando International (MCO)

Coordinates

28.4200, -81.2993

Aircraft

Douglas DC8-62

Registration

N804AX

Category

Airplane

Engines

4

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Wilmington

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

MIA97IA050

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the captain to center the rudder and close all engine throttles during an aborted takeoff resulting in an uncontrolled turn to the right due to nose wheel steering through the rudder pedals and asymmetric engine thrust. A factor in the incident was failure of operator maintenance personnel to properly service the nose landing gear strut resulting in an over extended strut and the flight crews loss of directional control to the left during takeoff requiring them to abort the takeoff.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

As the first officer began the takeoff roll the aircraft began to drift to the left. Attempts to correct the drift by application of full right nose wheel steering through the rudder pedals was unsuccessful. The captain took control of the aircraft and aborted the takeoff. As engine power was reduced the aircraft turned sharply to the right and went off the right side of the runway where it came to rest on soft terrain. The aircraft center of gravity was near the aft limit. After the incident the nose landing gear was found to be over serviced and extended 2.35 inches higher than normal. DFDR data showed that as engine power was added for takeoff the nose of the aircraft pitched up extending the nose gear further. This allowed the centering cam to restrict nose gear steering to +/- 4 degrees. As the captain aborted the takeoff the nose pitched down and normal nose steering returned at which time the aircraft responded to the full right rudder input. DFDR and CVR data also show that as the captain aborted the takeoff he did not fully close throttles 1 and 2 and the asymmetric thrust contributed to the uncontrolled right turn.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.