Boeing 747-87UF N859GT

Summary

On 19 January 2024 at about 03:34 local time, a Boeing 747-87UF registered N859GT, operated by Atlas Air Inc, was involved in an incident near Miami, Florida, United States. 6 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

19 January 2024 at 03:34

Classification

Incident

Location

Miami, Florida, United States

Coordinates

25.7861, -80.3148

Aircraft

Boeing 747-87UF

Registration

N859GT

Category

Airplane

Year built

2015

Engines

4

Operator

Atlas Air Inc

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Carolina

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

DCA24LA079

Nobody was injured.

Maintenance personnel’s improper installation and inspection of the port M borescope plug, which resulted in an engine fire.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the airplane’s initial climb after departure, the flight crew received engine overheat and fire warning indications for the No. 2 engine. The engine was subsequently shut down, one fire bottle was discharged, and the engine fire light extinguished. After declaring a mayday, the flight returned to the airport and made an uneventful landing. A review of the airplane’s maintenance records revealed that, 4 days before the flight, the airplane had undergone a borescope inspection of the No. 2 engine performed by a third-party vendor. The inspection required the removal of the port M borescope plug. The maintenance work card provided instructions for properly reinstalling the borescope plug to ensure that the locking feature was properly engaged. By initialing the work card, the technician who performed the work and the inspector who reviewed the work indicated that this task had been completed in accordance with the maintenance manual procedure. A postincident inspection of the No. 2 engine revealed that the engine cases were intact with no evidence of an uncontained engine failure. The inspection also revealed burn through of the thrust reverser fan duct fixed inner wall located directly over the combustor diffuser nozzle (CDN) port M borescope plug. The CDN case port M borescope plug was not secured in the engine case and was found loose in the engine cowling. The open CDN port allowed hot gases to escape from the engine, which caused thermal damage to the thrust reverser. A postincident inspection of the port M borescope plug revealed no anomalies to the plug’s material composition, dimensions, threads or locking components. The plug was threaded into an exemplar engine without binding or stiffness and locked as designed. Although the work card had been initialed by a technician and an inspector, it is likely that the port M borescope plug was not properly secured and inspected according to maintenance manual procedures and that the improperly secured plug resulted in the engine fire.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.