McDonnell Douglas DC-8-71F N830BX

Summary

On 12 March 1997 at about 03:10 local time, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-71F registered N830BX was involved in an incident near Portland, Oregon, United States. 3 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 March 1997 at 03:10

Classification

Incident

Location

Portland, Oregon, United States

Nearest airport

Portland International (PDX)

Coordinates

45.4001, -122.7896

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC-8-71F

Registration

N830BX

Category

Airplane

Engines

4

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Toledo

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Not Reported

NTSB number

SEA97IA071

Nobody was injured.

improper installation of four attach bolts on the elevator drive torque tube.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the process of changing one side of the elevator, maintenance personnel put washers under the head of the bolts used to attach the inboard portion of the elevator drive torque tube to the outboard portion of the tube. Because washers were not called for in the installation, the clearance between the bolt heads and the elevator structure was reduced to a point where, under the flight loads generated during the takeoff roll elevator test, elevator binding occurred. Because of this binding, the takeoff was aborted. It was later determined that washers had been put under the bolt heads during a previous installation, and the mechanics had simply copied what they saw while removing the old elevator. After the incident, maintenance personnel checked the Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC), which clearly showed that no washers were to be used. They also checked the installation of the elevator on the other side of the aircraft and discovered that it had been installed correctly (no washers under the bolt heads).

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.