Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Dallas-Fort Worth Intl Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Dfw Airport, Texas 75261
Wednesday, October 3, 2001 8:36 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While on final approach to the runway the captain received an unsafe nose landing gear indication on the multi function display unit (MFDU) in the cockpit. The captain abandoned the approach and "recycled the gear per procedures to no avail." Subsequently, the airplane landed on runway 13R, rolled out, and came to a stop on the runway. An evacuation of the airplane was not initiated. A maintenance crew met the airplane on the runway and placed locking pins in the gear. Multiple simultaneous communications/conversations ensued between the maintenance crew, a maintenance supervisor, a maintenance crew chief and the flight crew. During the communications, the flight crew questioned maintenance personnel on whether or not it was necessary to strap the gear, the supervisor searched the maintenance manuals and didn't find any reference to strapping the gear, and informed the maintenance crew that it was not necessary to strap the gear prior to towing. Review of the maintenance manual found numerous warnings regarding towing the airplane with an unsafe nose landing gear indication. Meanwhile, a maintenance crew chief was informing the maintenance personnel that strapping of the gear was required; however, there was no strap at the airport. Despite a placard, located on the nose landing gear door, the maintenance crew attempted to tow the airplane without strapping the nose landing gear. Subsequently, the nose landing gear collapsed and the nose of the airplane came to rest on the towbar. The passengers were then deplaned and transported to the terminal by a bus. Examination of the nose landing gear did not reveal the reason for the down-lock plunger to engage when the nose landing gear was extended.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The collapse of the nose landing gear as a result of the failure of company maintenance personnel to follow the proper procedures for a towing the airplane with an unsafe nose landing gear indication. Contributing factors were the inadequate communication between the company maintenance personnel, the inaccurate instructions provided to the maintenance crew, and the failure of the nose landing gear's locking mechanism.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/3/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 836 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | DFW Airport |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 75261 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 325328N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0970209W |
| Event Location Airport | Dallas-Fort Worth Intl |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | DFW |
| 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 | 603 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 856 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DFW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 603 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 30000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.1 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 935 |
| 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 | 86 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13769 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 3 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 845 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 26 2003 8:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1448A |
| NTSB Number | FTW02FA003 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Fokker |
| Aircraft Model | F28 Mk 0100 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 11457 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 98000 |
| 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 | 89 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 2 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1.11 |
| Airframe Hours | 20578 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | American Airlines Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4333 Amon Carter Blvd |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fort Worth |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 76133 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 | AALA |
| 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 | TUL |
| Departure City | Tulsa |
| Departure State | OK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 712 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | DFW |
| Destination City | DFW Airport |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi - from landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 12 2003 11:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 13R |
| Runway Length | 9301 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |