Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Denver, Colorado 80249
Thursday, April 27, 2000 21:30 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was in cruise flight at 37,000 feet msl. The captain said that they heard a loud bang and the airplane shook, and they immediately began to lose cabin pressurization. The engine instruments went dead on number two engine, and they pulled the number two emergency 'T' handle. He said that they donned their oxygen masks, began descending, and diverted to Denver. Postlanding examination of the number two-engine nacelle revealed that the inboard and outboard main engine cowlings had separated from the aircraft. An 18x6 inch hole was found half way up the fuselage (pressure bulkhead), just aft of the left wing; the left horizontal stabilator was also damaged. Further examination of the engine revealed that the 4 inch-diameter high-pressure bleed air duct had separated from the high-pressure relief valve, and the clamp that connected them was missing. The clamp was never located. According to the operator, failure of the clamp would dump high-pressure bleed air into the nacelle, resulting in over-pressurization and separation of the cowlings. The wire bundle, which transmitted the number two-engine monitoring data to the cockpit was found cut. There was no evidence of engine fire or fire in the nacelle cavity.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the clamp that secured the high-pressure bleed air duct to the high-pressure relief valve. Factors were the resulting excessive pressurization of the engine nacelle, and the subsequent separation of the engine cowling.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/27/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2130 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | DENVER |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80249 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2056 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MLS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2628 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Broken |
| 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) | 15 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 110 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 269 |
| NTSB Notification Source | comm center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 27 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1100 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 9 2001 8:54AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N990CF |
| NTSB Number | DEN00FA078 |
| 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 | Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | DC-8-62F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DC-8-62F |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 46068 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 350000 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 4 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 13 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 74 |
| Airframe Hours | 51844 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FLEET NATIONAL BANK |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 777 MAIN ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | HARTFORD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 06115 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | EMERY WORLDWIDE AIRLINES |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1 EMERY PLAZA |
| Operator City | VANDALIA |
| Operator State | OH |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 45377 |
| Operator Code | RRXA |
| 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 | SEA |
| Departure City | SEATTLE |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1933 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | DAY |
| Destination City | DAYTON |
| Destination State | OH |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| 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 | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |