Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Albuquerque International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106
Sunday, July 6, 1997 16:50 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Captain reported a normal flight and that the landing approach was stabilized. He stated that the wind was 'right down the runway for the landing.' As the airplane decelerated through 70 KIAS, the first officer reported hearing a 'loud bang,' and the airplane began 'listing heavily to the right and drifting to the right.' The pilots determined that the right main landing gear (MLG) had collapsed and an evacuation was ordered. The right MLG was last removed (18,188 cycles before the accident) for overhaul on April 8, 1988, and the right MLG forward trunnion bearing support fitting (FTBSF) was last ultrasonically inspected in May 1993 (7,634 cycles before the accident). A Service Bulletin, dated March 8, 1990, recommended that the MLG FTBSFs be ultrasonically inspected after 12,000 flight cycles every 6 months or 1,500 flight cycles, whichever occurred first. Operators were to continue this inspection cycle until the part was replaced or the preventative modification was done. The NTSB Materials Laboratory examined the broken right MLG FTBSF and determined that the failure was the result of stress corrosion cracking.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The inadequate inspection of the right main landing gear forward trunnion bearing support fitting. Factors were the failure of the right main landing gear forward trunnion bearing support fitting and the subsequent right main landing gear failure.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/6/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1650 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | ALBUQUERQUE |
| Event State | NEW MEXICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 87106 |
| 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 | ALBUQUERQUE INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ABQ |
| 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 | 5352 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1709 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 40 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ABQ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5352 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 12000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| 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) | 30 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| 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 | 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 | 153 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1601 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 6 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1930 |
| 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 | N2809W |
| NTSB Number | FTW97FA255 |
| 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 | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | 727-247 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 727-247 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 20581 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 184200 |
| 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 | 157 |
| Number of Engines | 3 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 20 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 119 |
| Airframe Hours | 9198 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DELTA AIR LINES, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | HARTSFIELD INTL. AIRPORT |
| Aircraft Owner City | ATLANTA |
| Aircraft Owner State | GA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 30320 |
| 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 | DALA |
| 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 | DFW AIRPORT |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1547 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | ABQ |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| 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 | 17 |
| Runway Length | 10000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |