McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 N3507A

Summary

On 29 November 2000 at about 22:53 local time, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 registered N3507A was involved in an incident near Dulles, Virginia, United States. 66 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

29 November 2000 at 22:53

Classification

Incident

Location

Dulles, Virginia, United States

Nearest airport

Dulles International (IAD)

Coordinates

38.9903, -77.4609

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82

Registration

N3507A

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Washington Dc → Dallas/Ft Worth

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

IAD01IA017

Nobody was injured.

the operator's inadequate maintenance procedure to disconnect the Omega navigational system, which resulted in coaxial cables being cut and not properly protected. A factor in the incident was the lightning strike.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During initial climb-out, the airplane was struck by lightning. Shortly thereafter, dark smoke entered the forward area of the passenger cabin. The crew declared an emergency and the flight attendants, with a passenger's assistance, cut a hole in the overhead panel, and discharged the contents of two hand held fire extinguishers. The airplane landed uneventfully and an emergency evacuation was conducted without incident. Examination of the airplane revealed that a deactivated navigational antenna located in the tail cone had been struck by lightning. Attached to the antenna were two coaxial cables, which were tie-wrapped together, fed into the cabin, and attached along the upper left hand side of the fuselage between the insulation blankets and overhead panels. The cable ends were observed to be mechanically cut and had been fastened above row 7AB, in the area of the most fire damage. The insulation to the right of the cable ends was cratered and burrowed. The cable ends were not protected or grounded. The cables had been cut and partially removed in accordance with an engineering change order (ECO) developed by the operator, so a more advanced system could be installed. According to the procedure, the cable ends were to be covered with heat shrink tubing or other suitable material. Fifty-seven of the operator's 259 MD-80 airplanes had undergone the partial removal of the cables, and 21 airplanes still had the full Omega antenna system installed. As a result of this incident, the operator implemented a revised engineering change order (ECO) that stated, 'the cable which runs down the vertical stabilizer is cut and grounded to structure in the aft accessory compartment. A portion of the cable, which runs through the aft pressure bulkhead, is removed and the feed through is sealed. The intent of this action is to protect the cable from lightning damage.' As of January 11, 2001, the revised ECO had been implemented on all 78 airplanes.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.