McDonnell Douglas MD-11F N250UP

Summary

On 7 June 2005 at about 05:25 local time, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F registered N250UP was involved in an accident near Louisville, Kentucky, United States. 4 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

7 June 2005 at 05:25

Classification

Accident

Location

Louisville, Kentucky, United States

Nearest airport

Standiford Field (SDF)

Coordinates

38.1742, -85.7358

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas MD-11F

Registration

N250UP

Category

Airplane

Engines

3

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Anchorage → Louisville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

NYC05FA094

Nobody was injured.

The flying pilot's improper aircraft handling after main landing gear touchdown, which resulted in the collapse of the nose landing gear assembly. Conributing to the accident was the pilot-in-command's inadequate supervision during the landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11F was being flown by a captain seated in the left seat (PF), who was receiving initial operating experience (IOE). A captain seated in the right seat, was the pilot-in-command (PIC) of the flight. The airplane was landing on an 8,579-foot-long, concrete runway, during night visual meteorological conditions. After main gear touchdown, the nose gear touched down, and subsequently collapsed. The airplane sustained damage to and around the pressure bulkhead, at station 625. Data obtained from the flight data recorder revealed that after main gear touchdown, the control column was moved sharply forward resulting in a change in pitch angle from approximately 5 degrees nose up, to about 1 degree nose down, which was accompanied by a reduction in load factor to approximately 0.3 g's. The vertical load factor then spiked to approximately 2.5 g's on nose wheel contact, over twice that of a typical landing, with a load factor increment of 0.75 g's, also excessive. Metallurgical examination of the remnants of the nose landing gear assembly were consistent with overstress, and no evidence of any preexisting fractures were observed.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.