Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Newark International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Newark, New Jersey 07114
Tuesady, October 5, 1999 5:40 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the landing roll, the center landing gear (CLG) on the MD-11 failed in a rearward direction. The lugs on the upper attach point of the lower drag brace on the CLG failed, the landing gear retraction cylinder was pulled apart, and hydraulic fluid was lost in the #3 hydraulic system. Metallurgical examination of the failed lug found evidence of overload. The DFDR recorded a momentary peak in vertical and longitudinal accelerations, about 5.75 seconds after main landing gear touchdown, and 2.5 seconds after nose wheel touchdown. The vertical acceleration momentarily reduced, and the longitudinal acceleration momentarily increased. According to McDonnell-Douglas, the CLG was capable of entering a divergent, longitudinal oscillation, which could fail the lower drag brace lugs. There were five prior documented events that were identical. After the first three events, McDonnell-Douglas duplicated it twice again, using instrumented airplanes. They subsequently issued a service bulletin for modifications to the CLG brakes and anti-skid system. The accident airplane had these modifications. Additional testing by the operator to determine the loads on the CLG during landing did not find any high loads, and the cause of the CLG oscillation was not determined.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A divergent, longitudinal oscillation of undetermined origin on the center landing gear, which caused a failure of the center landing gear lower drag brace during landing roll.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/5/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 540 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | NEWARK |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 07114 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | NEWARK INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | EWR |
| 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 | 11 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 550 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EWR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 11 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| 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) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 10 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 0 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10161 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 5 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 855 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 17 2001 8:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N606FE |
| NTSB Number | NYC00LA005 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | MD-11F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | MD-11F |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 48602 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 3 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 27 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 34 |
| Airframe Hours | 22055 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WILMINGTON TRUST COMPANY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1100 N MARKET ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | WILMINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19890 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | FEDEX |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 3131 DEMOCRAT ROAD |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | IND |
| Departure City | INDIANAPOLIS |
| Departure State | IN |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 424 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | EWR |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 9 2001 4:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 4R |
| Runway Length | 9980 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |