Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mccarran International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Las Vegas, Nevada 89111
Saturday, August 8, 1998 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight had just pushed back from a new terminal at the airport. The crew had checked the NOTAMS for the flight and discussed one, which cautioned pilots to be aware of a ditch that was not easily visible nor marked, which was located directly across from the new terminal. The crew discussed the ditch during preflight and also on their earlier arrival into the airport; however, the crew did not see the ditch. The crew taxied across the ramp to a hold point and called ground control for a taxi clearance. Initial taxi clearance had the airplane turning right on the closest parallel taxiway. Due to weight considerations, the crew requested a runway change. Ground control then had the airplane turn right on the outboard parallel taxiway. The captain said he looked down at the taxiway diagram and confused his position with taxiway C4 rather than Spot 4. The captain then taxied the airplane forward across taxiway C, through the ditch, and made a right turn onto taxiway Bravo. After encountering the ditch, the crew came to a consensus that there was nothing unusual about the airplane to preclude continuing the flight. The flight attendants did not convey to the flight crew the extent of motion in the back of the airplane, nor did the flight crew ask the flight attendants about their ride in the back of the airplane. The flight to their intended destination was uneventful. The oncoming crew discovered the minor damage to the airplane. At the time of the incident, the infield area was not lit or marked to help illuminate the ditch, and the ditch had no boundary hazard markings. One month prior to this event, another air carrier had one of their airplanes taxi through the same area. After the two incidents, airport operations ordered and placed plastic reflective delineators around the ditch area.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The airport personnel's failure to properly mark the ditch hazard and the taxiway boundaries surrounding it, and, the captain's failure to maintain a situational awareness of his location with respect to the taxiway layout. The dark night lighting condition was a factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 8/8/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 12 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | LAS VEGAS |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89111 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | MCCARRAN INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KLAS |
| 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 | 2179 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 56 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LAS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2179 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 12000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 33 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| 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) | 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 | 155 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5024 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 8 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 605 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 11:42AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N831L |
| NTSB Number | LAX98IA261 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | 727-2Q8 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 727-2Q8 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 21826 |
| 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 | 152 |
| Number of Engines | 3 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 6 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 16 |
| Airframe Hours | 57314 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | IAI-I INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3655 TORRANCE BLVD. |
| Aircraft Owner City | TORRANCE |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90503 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | DELTA AIRLINES INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1020 DELTA BLVD. |
| Operator City | ATLANTA |
| Operator State | GA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 30320 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 12 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CVG |
| Destination City | CINCINNATI |
| Destination State | OH |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi |
| 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 | 7L |
| Runway Length | 14505 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |