Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Lindberg Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Diego, California 92145
Friday, June 25, 1999 14:40 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The crew heard a pop after the nose wheel lifted up during rotation on takeoff and a loss of power occurred on the right engine. An emergency was declared and an uneventful landing was completed. All of the third and fourth stage turbine blades fractured at the root and no fatigue marks were noted. The second stage turbine blades fractured at 1/2 to 2/3 span. All low-pressure turbine nozzle guide vanes exhibited significant leading edge rub and had meshed with adjacent turbine blade trailing edges. The low-pressure compressor drive turbine shaft fractured approximately 25 inches aft of the low-pressure compressor. This fracture was twisted and contained a large area of displaced and galled metal; coke/carbon was observed under the galled metal. The number 3 bearing was damaged; all balls were worn with flat spots up to 1/2 the ball circumference. Spalling was evident on the inner and outer race, but no race spinning was noted. The cage was intact, but worn. No evidence of oil starvation or overheating was evident. A flow check of the oil supply system to the number 3 bearing was completed with no blockage or flow anomalies detected. An inspection by an independent laboratory could not determine a cause for the bearing failure. The number 3 bearing had accumulated 12,487 hours since new.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of the number three bearing. The resulting oil leak from the bearing led to coke/carbon buildup, which resulted in chafing of the turbine's low-pressure compressor drive shaft on the rear compressor seal tube and subsequent fracture of the drive shaft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 6/25/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1440 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | SAN DIEGO |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92145 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | LINDBERG FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SAN |
| 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 | 14 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1456 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | NKX |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 478 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| 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) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| 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 | 141 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5025 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 25 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1507 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 11 2001 4:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N450AA |
| NTSB Number | LAX99IA230 |
| 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 | DC-9-82 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DC-9-82 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 49476 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 149500 |
| 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 | 145 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 34641 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AMERICAN AIRLINES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4333 AMON CARTER BLVD |
| Aircraft Owner City | FORT WORTH |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 76155 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | WILMINGTON TRUST C0 |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | RODNEY SQUARE NORTH |
| Operator City | WILMINGTON |
| Operator State | DE |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 19890 |
| Operator Code | AALA |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SAN |
| Departure City | SAN DIEGO |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1410 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | DFW |
| Destination City | DALLAS |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| 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 | 27 |
| Runway Length | 9400 |
| Runway Width | 200 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |