McDonnell Douglas MD-83 N9413T

Summary

On 12 July 2001 at about 23:24 local time, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 registered N9413T, operated by Trans World Airlines, LLC, was involved in an incident near Whiteman AFB, Missouri, United States. 138 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 July 2001 at 23:24

Classification

Incident

Location

Whiteman AFB, Missouri, United States

Nearest airport

Whiteman Afb (SZL)

Coordinates

38.7293, -93.5492

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas MD-83

Registration

N9413T

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Trans World Airlines, LLC

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Saint Louis → San Jose

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

CHI01IA211

Nobody was injured.

The separation of a fan blade due to fatigue failure which led to case separation and loss of engine power in the left engine.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The McDonnell Douglas MD-83, operated as a scheduled passenger flight, experienced a catastrophic failure of the left engine while flying at 31,000 feet. The flightcrew heard a thud and noticed that the left engine was surging. White smoke filled the cabin and cockpit. The flightcrew donned their oxygen masks, declared an emergency and initiated an emergency descent to Kansas City International Airport (MCI), Kansas City, Missouri. While descending towards MCI, the flight crew changed their emergency landing destination to Whiteman Air Force Base (SZL), Knob Noster, Missouri, when they were approximately 18 miles north of SZL. Flight crews are not issued approach charts for SZL by their operator. The flight crew requested the runway 19 instrument landing system (ILS) frequency from air traffic control (ATC) and were issued the incorrect frequency. The flight crew also requested and was given the inbound course for ILS 19. The flight crew never obtained the correct ILS frequency for the remainder of the flight and relied upon a radar approach to SZL. During the approach, ATC instructed the flight crew to maintain the a minimum vectoring altitude of 2,500 feet mean sea level. The flight crew descended below minimum vectoring altitudes of 2,500 feet mean sea level to 1,800 feet msl in order to descend below a cloud layer which was 1,400 feet above ground level during the radar approach to SZL. A metallurgical examination revealed a fatigue fracture of one fan blade. Examination of the left engine revealed that the fan exit case exhibited a 360 degree fan exit case fracture. Several service bulletins (SBs) applicable to the fan exit case introduce a newer engine case made of steel to replace the older aluminum case and to install stops to restrict the axial separation of the case in the event of case fracturing. The SBs state that there have been 5 instances of full 360 degree fan exit case fracture, all due to fan blade fracture. They further state that when the case fractures, the front of the engine with the cowl shifts forward. The incident engine had an aluminum fan exit case and did not have stops installed.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.