McDonnell Douglas DC 9 83(MD-83) N807WA

Summary

On 20 April 2018 at about 20:20 local time, a McDonnell Douglas DC 9 83(MD-83) registered N807WA, operated by Caribbean Sun Airlines Inc, was involved in an accident near Alexandria, Louisiana, United States. 101 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

20 April 2018 at 20:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Alexandria, Louisiana, United States

Nearest airport

Alexandria International (KAEX)

Coordinates

31.3275, -92.5453

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC 9 83(MD-83)

Registration

N807WA

Category

Airplane

Year built

1993

Engines

2

Operator

Caribbean Sun Airlines Inc

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chicago → Alexandria

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA18FA144

Nobody was injured.

the failure of the right main landing gear under normal loads due to fatigue cracking in an area subject to an FAA Airworthiness Directive that was not adequately inspected.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane suffered a right main landing gear collapse during landing at the destination airport. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right lower wing skin when it contacted the runway after the landing gear collapse. The crew stopped the airplane on the runway and an emergency evacuation was performed through three of the four doors on the airplane. The escape slide at the left forward door did not deploy or inflate due to the depletion of the gas charge in the reservoir. The reservoir depleted due to a leak in the valve assembly and was not caught during multiple inspections since installation of the slide assembly in the airplane. The landing gear cylinder fractured under normal landing loads due to the presence of a fatigue crack on the forward side of the cylinder in an area subject to an AD inspection for cracks. The most recent AD inspection of the cylinder was performed 218 landings prior when the fatigue crack was large enough to be detectable. A previous AD inspection performed 497 landings prior to the accident also did not detect the crack that would have been marginally detectable at the time.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.