Boeing 717-200 N2417F

Summary

On 10 August 2001 at about 01:25 local time, a Boeing 717-200 registered N2417F, operated by Trans World Airlines, was involved in an accident near Mascoutah, Illinois, United States. 76 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 August 2001 at 01:25

Classification

Accident

Location

Mascoutah, Illinois, United States

Nearest airport

Scott Afb (BLV)

Coordinates

38.5453, -89.8353

Aircraft

Boeing 717-200

Registration

N2417F

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Trans World Airlines

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Springfield → St Louis

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

CHI01FA270

Nobody was injured.

The malfunction of the nose gear extension system, which resulted from a previous ground collision with a wheel chock. A factor was the wheel chock.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane sustained substantial damage on contact with the runway during an emergency nose gear up landing. Evacuation of the airplane was conducted via the emergency slides. The captain stated, "Repeated radio requests to obtain stairs to deplane were denied due to unavailability. ... Received confirmation that the aircraft was all clear below for engine start and taxi. ... After beginning taxi roll a slight bump was felt that was compatible with a rough ramp area." A passenger stated, "At this point with engines running it seemed that it took a great deal of thrust to get the aircraft moving. I heard the hydraulics when breaks were released, but thought it unusual to use such thrust to get moving on a level ramp without a jet-way. The aircraft was simply pulling straight ahead. There were then two sharp jolts." One of the ground personnel stated, "There was no ground crew free at the time to flag out FLT 519 as I was busy and the other two agents were getting FLT 7637 boarded and it departed at 635P. After flagging out FLT 533 I went over to where FLT 519 had been sitting and discovered the chocks lying on the ramp." NTSB Materials Laboratory report 01-102 on the debris found at Springfield, the spray deflector assembly, and the left hand support assembly stated, "No other piece fractured from the center portion of the deflector assembly. ... Bench binocular microscope examination of the four fractured pieces revealed features typical of overstress separation in a casting. No evidence of a preexisting crack was found on the fractures." Subsequent to the accident, a Boeing Flight Operations Bulletin, dated September 20, 2001, stated, "The purpose of this revision is to clarify and broaden the scope of this operations bulletin, to include possible damage to the NLG SPRAY DEFLECTOR caused by taxiing over a chock, striking a taxiway light or other obstruction, dropping the nosewheel into a pothole, etc. The consequences of such operation may result in damage to the NLG SPRAY DEFLECTOR that may prevent subsequent retraction or extension of the nose gear."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.