Boeing - Canada (De Havilland) DHC-8-102 N838EX

Summary

On 12 March 2000 at about 23:54 local time, a Boeing - Canada (De Havilland) DHC-8-102 registered N838EX was involved in an incident near Baltimore, Maryland, United States. 32 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

12 March 2000 at 23:54

Classification

Incident

Location

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Nearest airport

Baltimore-Washington Int (BWI)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Boeing - Canada (De Havilland) DHC-8-102

Registration

N838EX

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

New York → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD00IA026

Nobody was injured.

the missing elevator stop bumper that resulted in elevator over-travel and damage to the elevator. A factor in the incident was the abrupt release of the elevator control lock in windy conditions.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the flight, the airplane required full nose-down trim and forward pressure on the yoke to maintain level flight. As a result, a logbook entry was made, and inspection of the airplane revealed damage due to contact between the elevator and rudder. Examination of the elevator gust lock mechanism revealed that only three of four elevator stop bumpers were installed. The upper right bumper was missing, but the mount bolt was still in place. The upper left bumper was cracked, chipped, crazed, and displayed a longitudinal crack that ran its entire length. FDR data showed that when the airplane taxied onto the departure runway for the previous flight, the gust lock was released, and rapid deflection of the elevator control surfaces and the control yoke was noted. At the point where the control yoke returned to its nominal position, the LH and RH elevator graph lines were approximately 4 degrees apart. These lines remained separated by approximately 4 degrees throughout the remainder of the flight. Examination of prior flights revealed the elevator control surface graph lines were superimposed in all modes of flight. Winds at the departure airport were from 300 degrees at 22 knots, gusting to 27 knots. A product safety representative for the airplane manufacturer 'guaranteed' the airplane would have been undamaged during the rapid elevator deflection, had the elevator stop bumpers been installed.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.