Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Newark, New Jersey 07197
Saturday, November 25, 2000 8:13 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While climbing through 26,000 feet, the airplane began to pitch up and down at a fast rate. The captain took control of the airplane and leveled off. The airplane continued to pitch up and down, the autopilot was engaged, and the airplane stabilized. The airplane was slowed to 230 knots and the autopilot was turned off. The pitch oscillations began again. The crew declared an emergency and returned to Newark International Airport, Newark, New Jersey, and landed without incident. The left inboard elevator parallel engage solenoid shut off valve was replaced and no further discrepancies were noted with the system. Examination of the faulty valve revealed that a short was found when tested between coil 1 and coil 2. Disassembly of the unit revealed that hydraulic fluid was found underneath the case assembly and around the coil assembly. The examination also revealed that the orange colored lead to coil 1, and the brown colored lead to coil 2 had fused together through the insulation and caused the electrical short. It could not be determined as to how the hydraulic fluid entered the valve, or if the fluid contributed to the electrical short. At the time of this report, Boeing was in the process of establishing a components team to research the possibility of fluid contamination in these valves.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a short in the left inboard elevator parallel engage solenoid valve for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 11/25/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 813 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | NEWARK |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 07197 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 751 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EWR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 18 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 22000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 14000 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 2 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 40 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11210 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 8 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 18 2001 1:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N582FE |
| NTSB Number | IAD01IA019 |
| 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 | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | MD-11 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | MD-11 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 48420 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 3 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FEDERAL EXPRESS |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | MEMPHIS |
| Aircraft Owner State | TN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 38194 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| 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 | 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | EWR |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | NJ |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | OAK |
| Destination City | OAKLAND |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 10 2001 4:02AM |
| 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 | -- |