McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 N9348

Summary

On 12 July 1997 at about 21:35 local time, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 registered N9348 was involved in an incident near Memphis, Tennessee, United States. 75 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

12 July 1997 at 21:35

Classification

Incident

Location

Memphis, Tennessee, United States

Nearest airport

Memphis International (MEM)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15

Registration

N9348

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Indianapolis → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI97IA212

Nobody was injured.

the spoiler cable was misrouted by unknown maintenance personnel.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane had undergone scheduled maintenance at a FAA certified Class IV repair station. The maintenance required that the spoiler control cables 17B and 18B be disconnected, and later re-connected. After scheduled maintenance was completed, the airplane was released for service. The airplane flew 52 flights before the first incident. The airplane experienced an uncommanded roll where the right wing dipped 'excessively.' Maintenance action was taken and the airplane was returned to service. Five flights later the airplane experienced another incident where the airplane abruptly rolled right The maintenance found the right inboard spoiler cables extremely loose and re-rigged the cables. The airplane was returned to service. Sixteen flights later the airplane experience another uncommanded right roll incident. The investigation found that the cable run 17B was riding on lower side of pulley for 18B and was running between cable guards at pulley for 18B. It was demonstrated that the 17B cable could be pulled down and positioned into the lower 18B roller slot by pulling down on the cable with a finger and positioning it in the pulley slot. No disassembly of parts or cable guides was required. Research of a maintenance data base revealed no previous occurrences of cable misrouting in this area. The aircraft was returned to service and no further flight control roll problems have been noted after a year of flying.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.