Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Tucson International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tucson, Arizona 85706
Monday, April 28, 1997 12:22 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During takeoff/initial climb, the aircraft sustained a contained failure of the left engine turbine section, as well as a tail pipe fire. The flightcrew returned to the airport, made a successful landing, and stopped on the runway, where an evacuation was initiated. The flight deck crew gave the evacuation command and instructed the flight attendants to 'use the right side exits only.' A short time later, Flight 230 asked the tower 'how do I correspond with the folks in the trucks and make sure what's going on with the left engine . . .' The controller replied, 'you go to one two four point four that's the ground control frequency and airport forty six is in charge of the fire rescue.' Review of the transcripts revealed that the crew experienced difficulty in establishing radio contact with the airport CFR vehicles. Postincident engine teardown revealed considerable damage of the stage 1 to stage 4 turbine blades. The 1st stage NGV was found with the outer buttress aft flow guide (angel wing) completely missing. The 1T blade damage was consistent with damage caused by liberated angel wing hardware; however, determination of the initial fracture mode was not possible.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
an undetermined failure in the #1 (left) engine turbine assembly, which resulted in a fracture of the first stage nozzle guide vane (NGV) and subsequent damage to the turbine blades.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 4/28/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1222 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | TUCSON |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85706 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | TUCSON INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KTUS |
| 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 | 2641 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1056 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TUS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2641 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| 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) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 15 |
| 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 | 123 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5013 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 28 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1310 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:13PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N470AA |
| NTSB Number | LAX97IA170 |
| 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 | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | MD-82 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | MD-82 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 49600 |
| 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 | 148 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 17 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 370 |
| Airframe Hours | 25599 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AMERICAN AIRLINES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4333 AMON CARTER BLVD |
| Aircraft Owner City | FORT WORTH |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 76155 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. BOX 619616 |
| Operator City | DFW AIRPORT |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 75261 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | TUS |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1220 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | DFW |
| Destination City | DALLAS |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| 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 | 29 |
| Runway Length | 10994 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |