Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Memphis, Tennessee 38132
Wednesday, April 9, 1997 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Upon arrival in Memphis the aircraft was found to have wrinkling damage to the outboard elevators and elevator counter weights. The flightcrew reported they had no turbulence or other events during the flight that would have caused the damage. Readout of the 25 hours of data contained on the digital flight data recorder (DFDR) did not show any events that would have caused the damage. Examination of the elevators showed no material defects or preexisting damage. The aircraft manufacturer stated they have seen similar damage to elevators caused by stall buffet at high altitude or high speed buffet at high altitude. The aircraft received an 'A' check while on the ground prior to departure for Memphis and no discrepancies with the elevators were noted. The flight engineer reported that he did notice any discrepancies with the elevators during preflight inspection on the flight to Memphis.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A stall buffet or a high speed buffet event which occurred at an undetermined time.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/9/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 16 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | MEMPHIS |
| Event State | TENNESSEE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 38132 |
| 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 | |
| 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 | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2351 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MEM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 332 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| 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) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 50 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 0 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1787 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 10 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 900 |
| 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 | N310FE |
| NTSB Number | MIA97LA125 |
| 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 | DC10-30F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DC10-30F |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 48299 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 580000 |
| 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 | 8 |
| Number of Engines | 3 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 8 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4 |
| Airframe Hours | 27390 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WILMINGTON TRUST COMPANY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | RODNEY SQUARE NORTH |
| Aircraft Owner City | WILMINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19890 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | FEDERAL EXPRESS CORPORATION |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2005 CORPORATE AVENUE |
| Operator City | MEMPHIS |
| Operator State | TN |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 38132 |
| Operator Code | FDEA |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SJU |
| Departure City | SAN JUAN |
| Departure State | PR |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2121 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | MEM |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Unknown |
| 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 | -- |