Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Portland International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Portland, Oregon 97224
Tuesady, March 11, 1997 19:10 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the process of changing one side of the elevator, maintenance personnel put washers under the head of the bolts used to attach the inboard portion of the elevator drive torque tube to the outboard portion of the tube. Because washers were not called for in the installation, the clearance between the bolt heads and the elevator structure was reduced to a point where, under the flight loads generated during the takeoff roll elevator test, elevator binding occurred. Because of this binding, the takeoff was aborted. It was later determined that washers had been put under the bolt heads during a previous installation, and the mechanics had simply copied what they saw while removing the old elevator. After the incident, maintenance personnel checked the Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC), which clearly showed that no washers were to be used. They also checked the installation of the elevator on the other side of the aircraft and discovered that it had been installed correctly (no washers under the bolt heads).
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
improper installation of four attach bolts on the elevator drive torque tube.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 3/11/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1910 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | PORTLAND |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97224 |
| 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 | PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PDX |
| 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 | 27 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| 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 | 6500 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| 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 | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5042 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 11 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2015 |
| 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 | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N830BX |
| NTSB Number | SEA97IA071 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | DC-8-71F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DC-8-71F |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 45973 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 320000 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 4 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 7 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | 65486 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AEROUSA, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 80 WOOSTER HGTS RD C/O GPA GP. |
| Aircraft Owner City | DANBURY |
| Aircraft Owner State | CT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 06810 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | IXXA |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PDX |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1910 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | TOL |
| Destination City | TOLEDO |
| Destination State | OH |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| 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 | 10R |
| Runway Length | 11000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |