Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Miami, Florida 33266
Sunday, October 3, 1993 15:55 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE WATER HEATER IN THE FORWARD GALLEY EXPLODED. EXAMINATION REVEALED THAT THE CONTACTS OF THE WATER HEATER RELAY, WHICH, WHEN ENERGIZED, PROVIDES ELECTRICAL POWER TO THE 3 HEATER ELEMENTS, WERE ROUGH, RAGGED, DISCOLORED, AND SHOWED EXCESSIVE EROSION. ACCORDING TO THE MANUFACTURER, WHEN A RELAY EXCEEDS ITS LIFETIME, IT IS POSSIBLE FOR EROSION AND WEAR ON THE SURFACE TO CAUSE THE CONTACTS TO STICK IN THE CLOSED POSITION. IN ADDITION, THE PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE, WHICH IS DESIGNED TO CRACK AT 65 PSI, WAS TESTED TO 300 PSI WITHOUT CRACKING. UPON DISASSEMBLY, THE O-RING WAS FOUND TO HAVE MIGRATED FROM ITS NORMAL LOCATION INTO THE LOWER VALVE BODY WHERE IT LODGED BETWEEN THE INSIDE DIAMETER AND THE HEAD OF THE POPPET. IN THIS CONDITION, THE O-RING PRESENTED A COMPLETED FLOW BLOCKAGE AND PREVENTED THE PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE FROM OPENING.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
THE FAILURE OF THE WATER HEATER RELAY AND THE OVERPRESSURE RELIEF VALVE TO OPERATE PROPERLY. IN ADDITION, THE DESIGN OF THE RELIEF VALVE WAS INADEQUATE IN THAT IT ALLOWED THE O-RING TO MIGRATE FROM ITS NORMAL POSITION PREVENTING THE VALVE FROM OPENING.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/3/1993 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1555 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | MIAMI |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 33266 |
| Event Date Year | 1993 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1550 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 350 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MIA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 16 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 100 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 14000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 9000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 23 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| 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 | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 80 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 6030 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 3 1993 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1645 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 1:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | 9YTHR |
| NTSB Number | MIA94FA001 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 129: Foreign |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | In-flight |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | MCDONNELL DOUGLAS |
| Aircraft Model | MD-83 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | MD-83 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 49568 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 160000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | Foreign Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 138 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 12 1993 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 162 |
| Airframe Hours | 14657 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BRITISH WEST INDIES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | ADMIN BLDG PIARCO |
| Aircraft Owner City | TRINIDAD |
| Aircraft Owner State | OF |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 00 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | BRITISH WEST INDIES |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | ADMIN BLDG PIARCO |
| Operator City | TRINIDAD |
| Operator State | OF |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 00 |
| Operator Code | BWIA |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1520 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | TBPB |
| Destination City | BARBADOS |
| Destination State | OF |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 16 2001 12:38PM |
| 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 | -- |