Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Honolulu International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Honolulu, Hawaii 96819
Wednesday, October 21, 1998 10:15 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The first officer was the flying pilot and detected a right wing heavy condition with roll control difficulties during liftoff. The crew dumped fuel and returned for a landing. Post landing inspection showed that three of the five spoilers on top of the right wing were fully deployed. Mechanics found a general-purpose shop rag lodged in the spoiler control pulley system, jamming it in the deployed position. The pulley area where the mechanics found the rag was an open and unprotected area in the center body landing gear wheel well. The center gear doors are normally closed on the ground; however, maintenance personnel can open the doors to work in this area. The doors open and the center landing gear retracts forward into this area during normal operation. The last maintenance completed in this area was 2 days prior to the incident when a contract fuel systems repair company opened several lines in that area to check for leaks. Mechanics could not find any rags, so a supervisor brought rags from another hangar. The supervisor was positive that he provided diaper style rags rather than shop style rags. His company only used the diaper style rag because it was more absorbent than a regular shop rag. A mechanic for the carrier said they normally used colored general-purpose shop towels. They occasionally used white terrycloth towels. The airplane completed 9 flights through various line stations prior to the mishap. On a walk around inspection, mechanics do not normally open the wheel well doors and look at the spoiler pulley system.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A jammed spoiler control pulley system caused by a shop rag left in an area of recent maintenance. Neither the maintenance organization nor the mechanic responsible could be determined.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 10/21/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1015 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | HONOLULU |
| Event State | HAWAII |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96819 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | HONOLULU INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | HNL |
| 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 | 13 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1053 Hawaii Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HNL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 13 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | HST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4900 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4000 |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5034 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 21 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1537 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 19 2001 4:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N581FE |
| NTSB Number | LAX99IA013 |
| 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 | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | MD-11 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | MD-11 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 48419 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 633000 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 3 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 17 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 119 |
| Airframe Hours | 26857 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WILMINGTON TRUST CO |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 100 N MARKET ST |
| 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 | 3131 DEMOCRAT BLDG C |
| Operator City | MEMPHIS |
| Operator State | TN |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 38118 |
| 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 | 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 | HNL |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 936 |
| Departure Time Zone | HST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | SYDNEY AUSTRALI |
| Destination State | OF |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 19 2001 4:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26R |
| Runway Length | 12357 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |