Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fairbanks International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fairbanks, Alaska 99709
Friday, February 5, 1999 11:10 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The crew of a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 airplane, reported a partial flight control malfunction during takeoff. The captain stated that during the takeoff roll, the airplane's nose failed to rise as he applied aft control yoke pressure. When he applied an excessive amount of aft control yoke pressure, the nose rotated slowly, and the airplane assumed the desired pitch angle for takeoff. Prior to the incident flight, the incident airplane remained parked outside, overnight. During the night the air temperature went below minus 50 degrees F. Following the incident, the airplane underwent an extensive inspection and evaluation of the flight control system, with no flight control anomalies discovered by company maintenance personnel. The NTSB's FDR readout showed that during the initial phase of the incident takeoff roll, both elevators remained in a down position. As the takeoff roll progressed and the airspeed approached 150 knots, both elevators responded to the pilot's control column inputs, and the nose of the airplane rotated. The pilot's control column position was not a recorded parameter of the incident airplane’s FDR.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The restricted/delayed movement of the elevator flight control due to extremely cold weather conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 2/5/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1110 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | FAIRBANKS |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99709 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 644800N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1475158W |
| Event Location Airport | Fairbanks International |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FAI |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 434 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1052 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FAI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 400 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0.5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -44 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 138 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11916 |
| NTSB Notification Source | |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 5 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1125 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 1 2002 11:26AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N934AS |
| NTSB Number | ANC99IA027 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | MD-82 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | MD-82 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 49235 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 150500 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 148 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Willmington Trust Comapny |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Rodney Square North |
| Aircraft Owner City | Willington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19890 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | ALASKA AIR GROUP, INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. BOX 68900 / CODE: SEAOZ |
| Operator City | SEATTLE |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | 98168 |
| Operator Code | ASAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | FAI |
| Departure City | FAIRBANKS |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1100 |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ANC |
| Destination City | ANCHORAGE |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 3 2002 5:13PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 19R |
| Runway Length | 5400 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |