Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Champaign, Illinois 61821
Friday, August 18, 1995 13:48 CDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The airplane sustained minor damage following an uncontained failure of the number two engine during approach. The crew received a fire indication of the number two engine. They secured the engine and discharged the nacelle fire extinguishing system. They landed and evacuated the airplane without further incident. Examination revealed several penetrations of the right fuselage side and number two cowling. The gearbox housing had a hole at the 12 o'clock position in the plane of rotation of the helical drive (bull) gear. The combustion plenum had a hole at the five o'clock position. Fragments of the bull gear were recovered from within the gear box. Metallurgical examination of the bull gear revealed a fatigue crack that emanated from the root radius of a gear tooth. The crack progressed to an area of the fracture that contained 'features typical of overstress separation.' The hole in the combustion plenum was attributed to excessive temperature. No other metallurgical anomaly was noted.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

fatigue cracking and subsequent catastrophic failure of the number two engine helical drive (bull) gear, which resulted in an overtemperature condition, bursting of the combustion plenum, and a subsequent in-flight fire.

Event Information

Type of Event Incident
Event Date 8/18/1995
Event Day of the Week Friday
Time of Event 1348
Event Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Event City CHAMPAIGN
Event State ILLINOIS
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 61821
Event Date Year 1995
Event Date Month 8
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude
Event Location Longitude
Event Location Airport
Event Location Nearest Airport ID
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport Off Airport/Airstrip
Distance from airport in statute miles --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation --
Weather Briefing Completeness Not pertinent
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1348 Central Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 45
Weather Observation Facility ID CMI
Elevation of weather observation facility 754
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 6
Time Zone of the weather observation CDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 3700
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 0
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) 15
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 34
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 24
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 290
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 6
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29
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 18
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 5050
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date Aug 18 1995 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1500
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Dec 7 2000 4:29PM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N425AM
NTSB Number CHI95IA286
Missing Aircraft Indicator N
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 121: Air Carrier
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Minor
Aircraft Fire In-flight
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name British Aerospace
Aircraft Model BAE JETSTREAM 3201
Aircraft Series Identifier BAE JETSTR
Aircraft Serial Number 870
Certified Max Gross Weight 15000
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 21
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Continuous Airworthiness
Date of Last Inspection Aug 14 1995 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 11
Airframe Hours 9777
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name FIRST SEC. BANK OF UTAH TRUST
Aircraft Owner Street Address 79 S. MAIN STREET
Aircraft Owner City SALT LAKE CITY
Aircraft Owner State UT
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 84111
Operator is an individual? --
Operator Name TRANS STATE AIRLINES
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 9275 GENAIRE DRIVE
Operator City ST LOUIS
Operator State MO
Operator Country
Operator Zip code 63134
Operator Code RAIA
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 Scheduled
Indicates Domestic or International Flight Domestic
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail Passenger Only
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) Unknown
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code STL
Departure City ST LOUIS
Departure State MO
Departure Country
Departure Time 1310
Departure Time Zone CST
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code CMI
Destination City
Destination State
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight Approach
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 2 2001 10:30AM
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 --