Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Memphis International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Memphis, Tennessee 38101
Saturday, July 12, 1997 17:35 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane had undergone scheduled maintenance at a FAA certified Class IV repair station. The maintenance required that the spoiler control cables 17B and 18B be disconnected, and later re-connected. After scheduled maintenance was completed, the airplane was released for service. The airplane flew 52 flights before the first incident. The airplane experienced an uncommanded roll where the right wing dipped 'excessively.' Maintenance action was taken and the airplane was returned to service. Five flights later the airplane experienced another incident where the airplane abruptly rolled right The maintenance found the right inboard spoiler cables extremely loose and re-rigged the cables. The airplane was returned to service. Sixteen flights later the airplane experience another uncommanded right roll incident. The investigation found that the cable run 17B was riding on lower side of pulley for 18B and was running between cable guards at pulley for 18B. It was demonstrated that the 17B cable could be pulled down and positioned into the lower 18B roller slot by pulling down on the cable with a finger and positioning it in the pulley slot. No disassembly of parts or cable guides was required. Research of a maintenance data base revealed no previous occurrences of cable misrouting in this area. The aircraft was returned to service and no further flight control roll problems have been noted after a year of flying.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the spoiler cable was misrouted by unknown maintenance personnel.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 7/12/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1735 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | MEMPHIS |
| Event State | TENNESSEE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 38101 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MEM |
| 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 | 400 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1700 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MEM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 400 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| 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) | 12 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | 75 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5051 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 14 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1045 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9138 |
| NTSB Number | CHI97IA212 |
| 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-9-15 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DC-9-15 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 45787 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 90700 |
| 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 | 83 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 27 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5092 |
| Airframe Hours | 64560 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | NORTHWEST AIRLINES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5101 NORTHWEST DR. |
| Aircraft Owner City | ST. PAUL |
| Aircraft Owner State | MN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 55111 |
| 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 | |
| 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 | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | IND |
| Departure City | INDIANAPOLIS |
| Departure State | IN |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1635 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | MEM |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| 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 | 18 |
| Runway Length | 9319 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |