Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
John F, Kennedy, Intl Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Jamaica, New York 11430
Tuesady, January 14, 2003 14:07 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight was at cruise altitude when the flight crew discovered that they were unable to move the control wheel for lateral (aileron) control. The rudder and elevator flight controls remained free for movement. As the flight neared its destination, the crew tried to extend with wing flaps. The leading edge slats extended, but they were unable to extend the trailing edge wing flaps. The flight landed in that condition. Post flight examination of the airplane revealed ice accumulations in all three wheel wells. The ice had accumulated on the aileron control cables, and flap extension cables, and prevented cable movement. The ice was traced to a water leak in the potable water system where a rubber hose attached to a water line fitting, under the floorboard, near the 3R door. When the floorboard in the area was lifted, upward movement of the floorboard was restricted by the rubber hose water line that was attached to the underside of the floor board. Water was observed misting from the line where it attached to the fitting. When the floorboard was lifted further, the water line pulled loose from the fitting, and water flowed out. Examination of the rubber water hose revealed it failure was due to excessive load applied to the crimped joint between the flexible hose and it end fitting. The airplane manufacturer had attached water lines to the underside of the floorboards. The airplane maintenance manuals did not contain any information about how to know if a water line was connected to the underside of a floorboard, or for disconnecting water lines attached to the underside of the floorboards prior to lifting them. There was no jammed flight control checklist in effect at the time of the incident. QAR data revealed the pilots had limited movement with the of the ailerons with the auto-pilot engaged or disengaged through roll control wheel steering (RCWS), a customer selected option for the airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A leak of potable water onto the lateral (aileron) flight control cables, and flap extension cables, which subsequently froze them in place. An additional cause was the improper procedures used by mechanics for floorboard removal which stretched the rubber hose, and led to the leak, all due to the manufacturer's lack of guidance in the maintenance manuals on floorboard removal.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 1/14/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1407 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Jamaica |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 11430 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 403823N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0734644W |
| Event Location Airport | John F, Kennedy, Intl |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | JFK |
| 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 | 13 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1351 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | JFK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 13 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -2 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.08 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -2147 |
| 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 | 142 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16152 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Boeing |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 22 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1635 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 28 2004 2:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | AAI-100 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | I-DUPA |
| NTSB Number | NYC03IA042 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 129: Foreign |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | MD-11-C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 48426 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 625000 |
| 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 | 220 |
| Number of Engines | 3 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| 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 | Alitalia Linee Aeree Italiane SPA |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Via A. E. Cammarota-Palazzina NPU |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fiumicino Aeroporto |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | IT |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 00050 |
| 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 | AAPF |
| 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 | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger/Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | LIMC |
| Departure City | Milano |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | IT |
| Departure Time | 946 |
| Departure Time Zone | UTC |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | JFK |
| Destination City | Jamaica |
| Destination State | NY |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 18 2004 11:32AM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 31L |
| Runway Length | 14572 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |