McDonnell Douglas MD-82 N34838

Summary

On 17 February 1997 at about 17:59 local time, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 registered N34838 was involved in an incident near Newark, New Jersey, United States. 147 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

17 February 1997 at 17:59

Classification

Incident

Location

Newark, New Jersey, United States

Nearest airport

Newark International (EWR)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas MD-82

Registration

N34838

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Denver → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD97IA048

Nobody was injured.

fatigue fracture of the upper lock link, which led to the collapse of the nose gear during landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The crew experienced an unsafe nose gear light on approach to landing. After recycling the gear, all indications were that the gear was down and locked. The airplane landed on runway 4R during which the nose gear collapsed; the airplane skidded to a stop. Examination of the airplane revealed the nose landing gear upper lock link had fractured. The lock link had accumulated 28,978 service hours and 24,511 cycles since original manufacture. The lock link was overhauled 13,515 and 6,317 hours prior to the failure. A metallurgical examination revealed the upper lock link was fractured through the 'I' beam section near its lower end about 3 inches from the overcenter pivot with the lower lock link. The fracture features were typical of fatigue which progressed over a large portion of the fracture. No mechanical, corrosion, or manufacturing discontinuities were visible at the fatigue origin. At the time of the failure, there was an Airworthiness Directive AD-97-02-10 about the upper lock link. It required inspections of assemblies prior to 10,000 total cycles or within 90 days of its issue, February 11, 1997, whichever came later. Continental Airlines was in the process of inspecting its entire fleet of affected aircraft when this incident occurred.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.