Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Hartsfield Atlanta Int'l Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Atlanta, Georgia 30320
Sunday, November 8, 1998 21:00 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the trip check, airport customer service personnel informed a mechanic that one of the center cargo bay longitudinal spring-lift power drive unit (PDU) powered rollers was inoperative and in the 'up' position. A mechanic, removed the powered rollers from the cargo compartment and did not have the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Maintenance Manual in his possession at the time. The mechanic, did not open the circuit breaker for the cargo control unit (CCU) that controls the operation of the powered rollers, nor did he tag the system out of service as stipulated in the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Maintenance Manual. While the mechanic was away from the airplane obtaining a new powered roller, the airport customer service had a crew change. The new crew, unaware that the powered roller cannon plug had been left on the floor of the cargo compartment, began loading cargo bins. The cannon plug was run over and its connecting wires cut by the cargo bins. A Delta technician started the airplane's auxiliary power unit (APU) to provide electrical power to the airplane. Other Delta technicians who were servicing the cabin observed smoke and 4 to 6 inch flames behind a floor vent of the main passenger cabin at row 12. The fire was subsequently extinguished.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the Company's maintenance personnel to follow the aircraft's maintenance manual which resulted in a cargo bin fire. Contributing to the severity of the incident was the failure of the mechanic to safety the circuit breaker, and the cut/severed electrical wiring.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 11/8/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 2100 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | ATLANTA |
| Event State | GEORGIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 30320 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | HARTSFIELD ATLANTA INT'L |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ATL |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Not Reported |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5032 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 10 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 900 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 14 2001 3:37PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Unknown |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N811DE |
| NTSB Number | ATL99IA015 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | MD-11 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | MD-11 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 48566 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 625500 |
| 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 | 262 |
| Number of Engines | 3 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 8 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | 23781 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WILMINGTON TRUST CO. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1100 N MARKET ST RODNEY SQ |
| Aircraft Owner City | WILMINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19890 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | DELTA AIR LINES INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | HARTSFIELD ATLANTA INTL APT |
| 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 | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Unknown |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Standing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 10 2001 2:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |