Boeing B737-448 EI-BXI

Summary

On 8 May 2002 at about 20:00 local time, a Boeing B737-448 registered EI-BXI, operated by Ryan Air Inc, was involved in an incident near Miami, Florida, United States. 160 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

8 May 2002 at 20:00

Classification

Incident

Location

Miami, Florida, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Boeing B737-448

Registration

EI-BXI

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Ryan Air Inc

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Montego Bay → Chicago

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA02IA094

Nobody was injured.

Inadequate maintenance by company maintenance personnel and failure to comply with manufacturer recommended maintence procedures (SB 737-55A1070R1), which resulted in an inflight inseparation of a section of the airplane's right hand elevator control tab. A factor in the incident was the flight crew's continued operation of the airplane with a known deficiency.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot stated that the aircraft had been performing normally during the flight to Jamaica, West Indies, except for with a slight vibration during the initial flight. During the return leg to Chicago, Illinois, the captain he said that the airplane started vibrating " ten times as bad", so he diverted to, and affected an otherwise uneventful landing, in Miami, Florida. He added that the vibration had continued throughout the flight, until "flaps five" was set during the approach, at which time the vibration stopped. After landing, examination of the airplane showed that about a 24-inch section of the right elevator trim tab had been missing from the aircraft. In addition to the examination of the elevator, the remaining parts adjacent to the separated tab to include two control rods with rod ends, one hinge fitting from the right hand elevator rear spar were removed and examined. The examination revealed the presence of fractures, wear marks to the control rod, as well as post fracture damage to the rods. In addition, the hinge fitting had also incurred fractures as well as severe post fracture rubbing to the lugs, and worn areas between the hinge lugs and the inboard and outboard surfaces of unfractured lugs. On the elevator, rubbing was noted in areas on the aft face and lower skin panels of the elevator rear spar. In addition, the rear spar reinforcing angle and elevator tab control rod inner fairing and external mast fitting had incurred also damage. Boeing reports documenting examinations of the remaining damaged portions of elevator and tab assembly have been included with this report. Pertinent maintenance records were not obtained from Ryan International Airlines or Aer Lingus PLC, and there was no evidence of compliance with Boeing's system maintenance program (SB 737-55A1070R1), pertinent to "freeplay" checks.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.