McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 N275AA

Summary

On 6 March 1997 at about 01:07 local time, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 registered N275AA, operated by American Airlines, Inc., was involved in an accident near Cleveland, Ohio, United States. 109 people were on board and 3 had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

6 March 1997 at 01:07

Classification

Accident

Location

Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Nearest airport

Cleveland Hopkins Intl (CLE)

Coordinates

41.4301, -81.8205

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82

Registration

N275AA

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

American Airlines, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Dal/Fort Worth → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

IAD97FA052

3 people had minor injuries.

The pilot in command did not maintain control while utilizing the full auto-land system. Factors to this accident were a contaminated runway, a crosswind, and inadequate guidance provided in the aircraft manual.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The DC-9 was number 2 for the ILS approach behind a commuter airplane, and was placed in holding while chemicals were applied to the runway due to snow and slush. The DC-9 captain requested a braking action report, which the tower controller relayed to the commuter airplane that had not yet landed. A braking action report was not received prior to the DC-9 landing. The captain elected to continue the approach with full auto-land selected to a contaminated runway, without a braking action report and a crosswind component of 13 knots. On the runway, the auto-pilot responded and attempted to return the airplane to the centerline of the runway. After 18 seconds and with the airplane's nose drifting left, the captain disengaged the auto-pilot, and applied full right rudder and brake to stop the left drift. The DC-9 departed the left side of the paved runway approximately 5,500 feet down the 8,998 foot runway, and facing 80 degrees left of the runway heading. A review of the manual revealed that the operator's flight manual contain no guidance or limitations for pilots regarding the use of full auto land and roll-out on contaminated runways

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.