Short Brothers SD3-60-200 N384MQ

Summary

On 9 July 1996 at about 20:05 local time, a Short Brothers SD3-60-200 registered N384MQ, operated by Executive Airlines, Inc., was involved in an incident near San Juan. 12 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 July 1996 at 20:05

Classification

Incident

Location

San Juan

Nearest airport

Luis Munoz Marin Int'l (SJU)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Short Brothers SD3-60-200

Registration

N384MQ

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Executive Airlines, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → St. Thomas

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA96IA179

Nobody was injured.

Fatigue failure of a segment of the elevator trim control cable. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the airplane manufacturer to require a replacement interval of the cables.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The first officer was flying the airplane and after takeoff and flap retraction while manually retrimming the airplane, the elevator control system failed. The flight returned and landed uneventfully. Examination of the elevator control system revealed a failed cable segment between fuselage station 74 in the cockpit to fuselage station 310 in the cabin. The cable failed about midpoint between a 45-degree change in direction. Metallurgical examination of the failed cable revealed it failed due to fatigue and wear. The airplane manufacturer requires the cables to be inspected every 4,800 hours but the airplane operator reduced the time interval to 2,400 hours. The cables were last inspected 2,247.5 hours earlier. The airplane manufacturer requires cable replacement only on condition.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.