Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Laguardia Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Flushing, New York 11371
Wednesday, March 26, 2003 22:39 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Boeing 717 was on final approach when the display units (DUs) in the cockpit blanked, and the cockpit darkened. In addition smoke was smelled in the cockpit, and cabin. In the cabin, the emergency light illuminated for a few minutes, and then all lights extinguished and the cabin was dark. The landing gear was lowered. When the wing flaps were positioned to 40 degrees, a landing gear aural warning commenced and continued until power was removed after landing. The captain reported when the event initiated, he directed his vision outside the cockpit where it remained until after landing. The co-pilot reported that he also directed his vision outside of the cockpit in the final 20 seconds of approach. Neither pilot made use of the standby instruments or used a flashlight to check instruments. The captain commanded an emergency evacuation after he cleared the runway and stopped. When interviewed, the flight attendants reported that during the emergency evacuation, they did not check conditions outside of their doors prior to opening them. In addition, cabin emergency lighting was not turned on by the flight attendants, and the flight attendant at the tail cone station was unable to deploy her slide. Examination of the airplane revealed the left power control distribution unit (PCDU) had failed. The left DC bus was also lost and the ability to power the left DC bus from other sources was also lost. The failure of the PCDU was not instantaneous and it tried to recycle several times. Each time the PCDU recycled, it also reset the display of new data on the remaining DUs. This caused an extended blank display followed by eventual reset of data. The pre-programmed response to the loss of the left DC bus was the loss of two DUs, one on each side of the cockpit.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A failure of the left power control distribution unit (PCDU).
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/26/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2239 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Flushing |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 11371 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 404640N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0735232W |
| Event Location Airport | LaGuardia Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LGA |
| 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 | 22 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2251 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LGA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 22 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3700 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 8 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 20 |
| 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) | 29.9 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -783 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 22 |
| Injury Total None | 60 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 23 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15740 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Eastern Region Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 26 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2315 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 29 2004 6:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | AAI-100, Washington, DC |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N957AT |
| NTSB Number | NYC03FA067 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | 717-200 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 55017 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 121000 |
| 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 | 123 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 3 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 195.4 |
| Airframe Hours | 6304.5 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Air Tran Airways, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 9955 Air Tran Blvd |
| Aircraft Owner City | Orlando |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32824 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Air Tran Airways |
| 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 | ZZDA |
| 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 | ATL |
| Departure City | Atlanta |
| Departure State | GA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2106 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | LGA |
| Destination City | Flushing |
| Destination State | NY |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 4 2004 10:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 04 |
| Runway Length | 7000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |