Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Whiteman Afb Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Whiteman Afb, Missouri 65305
Thursday, July 12, 2001 18:24 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The McDonnell Douglas MD-83, operated as a scheduled passenger flight, experienced a catastrophic failure of the left engine while flying at 31,000 feet. The flightcrew heard a thud and noticed that the left engine was surging. White smoke filled the cabin and cockpit. The flightcrew donned their oxygen masks, declared an emergency and initiated an emergency descent to Kansas City International Airport (MCI), Kansas City, Missouri. While descending towards MCI, the flight crew changed their emergency landing destination to Whiteman Air Force Base (SZL), Knob Noster, Missouri, when they were approximately 18 miles north of SZL. Flight crews are not issued approach charts for SZL by their operator. The flight crew requested the runway 19 instrument landing system (ILS) frequency from air traffic control (ATC) and were issued the incorrect frequency. The flight crew also requested and was given the inbound course for ILS 19. The flight crew never obtained the correct ILS frequency for the remainder of the flight and relied upon a radar approach to SZL. During the approach, ATC instructed the flight crew to maintain the a minimum vectoring altitude of 2,500 feet mean sea level. The flight crew descended below minimum vectoring altitudes of 2,500 feet mean sea level to 1,800 feet msl in order to descend below a cloud layer which was 1,400 feet above ground level during the radar approach to SZL. A metallurgical examination revealed a fatigue fracture of one fan blade. Examination of the left engine revealed that the fan exit case exhibited a 360 degree fan exit case fracture. Several service bulletins (SBs) applicable to the fan exit case introduce a newer engine case made of steel to replace the older aluminum case and to install stops to restrict the axial separation of the case in the event of case fracturing. The SBs state that there have been 5 instances of full 360 degree fan exit case fracture, all due to fan blade fracture. They further state that when the case fractures, the front of the engine with the cowl shifts forward. The incident engine had an aluminum fan exit case and did not have stops installed.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The separation of a fan blade due to fatigue failure which led to case separation and loss of engine power in the left engine.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 7/12/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1824 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Whiteman AFB |
| Event State | MISSOURI |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 65305 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | WHITEMAN AFB |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SZL |
| 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 | 871 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1755 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SZL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 871 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1400 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.02 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 138 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13463 |
| NTSB Notification Source | U.S. Air Force Safety Officer |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 12 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2200 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 30 2003 9:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Kansas City CMO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9413T |
| NTSB Number | CHI01IA211 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | MD-83 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 53188 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 160000 |
| 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 | 139 |
| 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 | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Wilmington Trust |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1100 N. Market St. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wilmington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19890 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Trans World Airlines, LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 11495 Natural Bridge Road |
| Operator City | Bridgeton |
| Operator State | MO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 63044 |
| Operator Code | ZWOA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | STL |
| Departure City | Saint Louis |
| Departure State | MO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1727 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SJC |
| Destination City | San Jose |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 21 2003 12:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | DINC |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 19 |
| Runway Length | 12400 |
| Runway Width | 200 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |