Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Chicago O'hare Intl Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chicag0, Illinois 60666
Wednesday, November 2, 1994 9:20 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE FLT CREW DISCONNECTED THE NUMBER ONE ENG CONSTANT SPEED DRIVE (CSD) DURING A FLT ON THE DAY PRIOR TO THIS INCIDENT WHEN ITS OIL PRESSURE LIGHT ILLUMINATED. DUE TO OTHER, UNRELATED MAINTENANCE, THE AIRPLANE'S NEXT REVENUE FLT WAS CANCELLED. SECOND SHIFT MECHANICS WERE ASSIGNED MAINTENANCE ON THE AIRPLANE. THE MECHANICS DECIDED TO TROUBLESHOOT THE UNIT. THE CSD WAS MECHANICALLY RECOUPLED AND THE ENG WAS STARTED. AFTER THE ENG START, THE START VALVE LIGHT FAILED TO GO OUT AND THE ENGINE WAS SHUT DOWN. A MECHANIC REMOVED THE MAIN CSD WIRING HARNESS CANNON PLUG TO HELP WITH THE TROUBLE SHOOTING PROCESS. THE START VALVE WAS REPLACED AND THE ENG WAS RUNUP. THE CSD CANNON PLUG WAS NOT CONNECTED AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE ENG RUNUP. AFTER SHUTDOWN THE START VALVE CHANGE WAS ENTERED INTO THE AIRPLANE MAINTENANCE RECORDS. THE MECHANIC WHO RECOUPLED THE CSD INFORMED THE LEAD MECHANIC OF HIS ACTION BEFORE HE LEFT FOR THE DAY. ACCORDING TO THE COMPANY, THE THIRD SHIFT MECHANICS DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO CHANGE THE CSD. THE NUMBER ONE ENG WAS '...CLOSED UP [AND] THE AIRCRAFT WAS DISPATCHED.' DURING TAXI FROM LANDING THE CSD CAUGHT FIRE.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
inattentive maintenance service of the airplane by the mechanic who failed to disengage the constant speed drive (CSD) after the engine runup had been completed. A factor in this incident was the lead mechanic not performing maintenance record keeping after being informed that the CSD had been recoupled.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 11/2/1994 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 920 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | CHICAG0 |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 60666 |
| Event Date Year | 1994 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | CHICAGO O'HARE INTL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ORD |
| 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 | 667 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Not Reported |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | FAA |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5028 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 2 1994 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 930 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2000 12:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N631US |
| NTSB Number | CHI95IA028 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BOEING |
| Aircraft Model | 747-251B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 747-251B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 23111 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 820000 |
| 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 | 350 |
| Number of Engines | 4 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 2 1994 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1 |
| Airframe Hours | 40562 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | 1ST NATL BANK OF BOSTON |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 100 FEDERAL STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | BOSTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 02110 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | NORTHWEST AIRLINES, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 5101 NORTHWEST DRIVE |
| Operator City | MINNEAPOLIS |
| Operator State | MN |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 55111 |
| Operator Code | NWAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | DTW |
| Departure City | DETROIT |
| Departure State | MI |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 902 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ORD |
| Destination City | CHICAGO |
| Destination State | IL |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 20 2002 12:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |