Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Miami International Airpo Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Miami, Florida 33152
Thursday, August 7, 1997 12:36 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
: On August 7, 1997, at 1236 eastern daylight time, a Douglas DC-8-61, N27UA, operated by Fine Airlines Inc. (Fine Air) as flight 101, crashed after takeoff from runway 27R at Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida. The three flightcrew members and one security guard on board were killed, and a motorist was killed on the ground. The airplane was destroyed by impact and a postcrash fire. The cargo flight, with a scheduled destination of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was conducted on an instrument flight rules flight plan and operated under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a Supplemental air carrier. Prior to takeoff, the airplane was misloaded to produce a more aft center of gravity and a correspondingly incorrect stabilizer trim setting. This precipitated an extreme pitch-up at rotation. Because of the incorrect stabilizer trim setting the pilots could not gain adequate control of the airplane before it struck the ground :
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The airplane being misloaded to produce a more aft center of gravity and a correspondingly incorrect stabilizer trim setting that precipitated an extreme pitch-up at rotation, was (1) the failure of Fine Air to exercise operational control over the cargo loading process; and (2) the failure of Aeromar to load the airplane as specified by Fine Air. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to adequately monitor Fine Air's operational control responsibilities for cargo loading and the failure of the FAA to ensure that known cargo-related deficiencies were corrected at Fine Air.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/7/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1236 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | MIAMI |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 33152 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPO |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MIA |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 270 |
| Airport Elevation | 11 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1236 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MIA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 26 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 1 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 5 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 5 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1901 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 7 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1200 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 30 2002 9:54AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\HAMG |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N27UA |
| NTSB Number | DCA97MA059 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | DC-8-61 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DC-8-61 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 45942 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 283875 |
| 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 | 0 |
| Number of Engines | 4 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 39891 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FINE AIRLINES, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4600 NW 36TH ST, BLDG 22 |
| Aircraft Owner City | MIAMI |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33152 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | FINE AIRLINES, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4600 N.W. 36TH STREET, BLDG 22 |
| Operator City | MIAMI |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 33152 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| 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 | MIA |
| Departure City | MIAMI |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SDQ |
| Destination City | SANTO DOMINGO |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | DR |
| 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 | 27R |
| Runway Length | 10502 |
| Runway Width | 200 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |