Houston Intercontinental Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Houston, Texas
Wednesday, August 11, 2004 16:55 CDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

As the throttles were advanced for takeoff, the flightcrew heard a noise and felt a vibration from the left side of the airplane. As the airplane rotated, the crew received a cockpit warning of LH Eng Vibration - Level 5. During the climb, the crew observed smoke and haze in the cockpit and the cabin crew advised that the cabin was filling with smoke. The flightcrew declared an emergency and made an immediate landing and emergency evacuation. The investigation revealed that a turbine blade in the left engine had failed due to a fatigue crack and the resulting damage caused excessive vibration in the engine. As the engine continued to vibrate, an oil seal failed allowing oil to contaminate the bleed air and create smoke in the cockpit and cabin. The failed blade had been mis-marked with the wrong part number by the manufacturer, which allowed it to remain in service far in excess of it's life limit until the fatigue crack developed.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

the failure of a high pressure turbine blade which damaged an oil seal and allowed smoke to enter the cabin. Contributing to the blade failure was the mis-labeling of the blade's part number by the manufacturer, which allowed the blade to remain in service far in excess of it's life limit.

Event Information

Type of Event Incident
Event Date 8/11/2004
Event Day of the Week Wednesday
Time of Event 1655
Event Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Event City Houston
Event State TEXAS
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site --
Event Date Year 2004
Event Date Month 8
MidAir Collision Indicator --
On Ground Collision occurred ? --
Event Location Latitude --
Event Location Longitude --
Event Location Airport HOUSTON INTERCONTINENTAL
Event Location Nearest Airport ID IAH
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles 0
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation --
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID IAH
Elevation of weather observation facility --
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation --
Lighting Conditions --
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height --
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Unknown
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Unknown
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 18
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 34
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) --
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 150
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 5
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator --
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.89
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 129
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 20846
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Aug 11 2004 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1615
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Nov 29 2006 12:45PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\johb
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number G-VIID
NTSB Number DCA04IA066
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 129: Foreign
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? Yes
Damage Minor
Aircraft Fire --
Aircraft Explosion --
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Boeing
Aircraft Model B-777
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number --
Certified Max Gross Weight --
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats --
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats --
Total number of seats on the aircraft --
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection --
Date of Last Inspection --
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours --
ELT Installed --
ELT Activated --
ELT Aided Location of Event Site --
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name --
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City --
Aircraft Owner State --
Aircraft Owner Country --
Aircraft Owner Zipcode --
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name British Airways
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address Compass Centre (5742), POBox 10 Heathrow Airport
Operator City Hounslow Middlesex
Operator State --
Operator Country UK
Operator Zip code TW6 2JA
Operator Code --
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 Only
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) --
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event Yes
Departure Airport Code IAH
Departure City Houston,
Departure State TX
Departure Country USA
Departure Time --
Departure Time Zone CDT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code LHR
Destination City London
Destination State --
Destination Country UK
Specific Phase of Flight Takeoff
Report sent to ICAO? Yes
Evacuation occurred Yes
Date of most recent change to record Nov 8 2006 3:44PM
User who most recently changed record DELI
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location --
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --