Douglas DC 9 83 N881GA

Summary

On 19 March 2017 at about 16:11 local time, a Douglas DC 9 83 registered N881GA, operated by Allegiant Air, was involved in an incident near Dayton, Ohio, United States. 163 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

19 March 2017 at 16:11

Classification

Incident

Location

Dayton, Ohio, United States

Nearest airport

James M Cox Dayton Intl (DAY)

Coordinates

39.9025, -84.2219

Aircraft

Douglas DC 9 83

Registration

N881GA

Category

Airplane

Year built

1988

Engines

2

Operator

Allegiant Air

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Orlando → Dayton

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

Unk

Light

Day

NTSB number

ENG17IA017

Nobody was injured.

The probable cause of the No. 2 (right) engine fire was an uncontained generator failure. Deformed rotating generator components and/or metal fragments radially released by the generator severed the constant speed drive-to-oil cooler return line located adjacent to the generator and caused oil to spray onto hot generator and engine case surfaces that subsequently ignited.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The No. 2 engine fire was caused by the uncontained failure of the generator main rotor. Deformed generator rotating components and/or metal fragments radially released by the generator severed the constant speed drive (CSD)-to-oil cooler return line located adjacent to the generator. The severed line sprayed oil onto hot generator and engine case surfaces that subsequently ignited. The sections of the generator main rotor that remained intact and the metal fragments recovered from the generator case exhibited extensive thermal and impact damage that precluded material analysis. The operating history of the failed generator was not available and federal regulations do not require operators to maintain hour and cycle counts for non-life limited components. An estimate of generator operating hours was provided by Allegiant Air and the date of manufacture was provided by UTC Aerospace Systems. Based on the available records the generator main rotor was never overhauled or re-wound and the total operating hours likely exceeded the 40,000 hour recommended overhaul interval specified in UTC Aerospace Systems service information letter (SIL) 449.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.