McDonnell Douglas MD-11 N582FE

Summary

On 25 November 2000 at about 13:13 local time, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 registered N582FE was involved in an incident near Newark, New Jersey, United States. 2 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

25 November 2000 at 13:13

Classification

Incident

Location

Newark, New Jersey, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas MD-11

Registration

N582FE

Category

Airplane

Engines

3

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Oakland

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD01IA019

Nobody was injured.

a short in the left inboard elevator parallel engage solenoid valve for undetermined reasons.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While climbing through 26,000 feet, the airplane began to pitch up and down at a fast rate. The captain took control of the airplane and leveled off. The airplane continued to pitch up and down, the autopilot was engaged, and the airplane stabilized. The airplane was slowed to 230 knots and the autopilot was turned off. The pitch oscillations began again. The crew declared an emergency and returned to Newark International Airport, Newark, New Jersey, and landed without incident. The left inboard elevator parallel engage solenoid shut off valve was replaced and no further discrepancies were noted with the system. Examination of the faulty valve revealed that a short was found when tested between coil 1 and coil 2. Disassembly of the unit revealed that hydraulic fluid was found underneath the case assembly and around the coil assembly. The examination also revealed that the orange colored lead to coil 1, and the brown colored lead to coil 2 had fused together through the insulation and caused the electrical short. It could not be determined as to how the hydraulic fluid entered the valve, or if the fluid contributed to the electrical short. At the time of this report, Boeing was in the process of establishing a components team to research the possibility of fluid contamination in these valves.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.