Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Cleveland Hopkins Intl Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cleveland, Ohio 44135
Wednesday, March 5, 1997 21:07 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The DC-9 was number 2 for the ILS approach behind a commuter airplane, and was placed in holding while chemicals were applied to the runway due to snow and slush. The DC-9 captain requested a braking action report, which the tower controller relayed to the commuter airplane that had not yet landed. A braking action report was not received prior to the DC-9 landing. The captain elected to continue the approach with full auto-land selected to a contaminated runway, without a braking action report and a crosswind component of 13 knots. On the runway, the auto-pilot responded and attempted to return the airplane to the centerline of the runway. After 18 seconds and with the airplane's nose drifting left, the captain disengaged the auto-pilot, and applied full right rudder and brake to stop the left drift. The DC-9 departed the left side of the paved runway approximately 5,500 feet down the 8,998 foot runway, and facing 80 degrees left of the runway heading. A review of the manual revealed that the operator's flight manual contain no guidance or limitations for pilots regarding the use of full auto land and roll-out on contaminated runways
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot in command did not maintain control while utilizing the full auto-land system. Factors to this accident were a contaminated runway, a crosswind, and inadequate guidance provided in the aircraft manual.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/5/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2107 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | CLEVELAND |
| Event State | OHIO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 44135 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | CLEVELAND HOPKINS INTL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CLE |
| 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 | 777 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2054 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CLE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 777 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 100 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| 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) | 1 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 350 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Moderate |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 3 |
| Injury Total None | 106 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1752 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 5 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2205 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:10PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N275AA |
| NTSB Number | IAD97FA052 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | DC-9-82 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DC-9-82 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 49272 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 149500 |
| 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 | 147 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 37922 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MARMID AIRCRAFT LEASING CORP |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO BOX 802 |
| Aircraft Owner City | BUFFALO |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 14240 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4333 AMON CARTER BLVD |
| Operator City | FORT WORTH |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 76155 |
| Operator Code | AALA |
| 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 | DFW |
| Departure City | DAL/FORT WORTH |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1724 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | CLE |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| 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 | 5R |
| Runway Length | 8998 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |