Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Ted Stevens International Airp Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Anchorage, Alaska 99502
Wednesday, December 29, 2004 17:41 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The 14 CFR Part 121 international cargo flight had an under-cowl fire in the number four engine during takeoff. The crew shut down the engine, activated the fire extinguishing system, and returned to the airport. An inspection of the engine disclosed that the entire outboard engine cowl was missing, and the engine had extensive fire damage. A fuel tube to the oil cooler was observed to have separated from the coupler attaching it to the oil cooler, leaving a gap of about one-half inch. The oil cooler uses the heat-exchange principle, exchanging heat via high quantity fuel flow. The fuel tube is about one and one-quarter inches in diameter, and has a working pressure of about 200 psi. Separation of the fuel tube assembly connection occurred at the brazed sleeve joint between the ferrule and the fuel tube. An examination and X-ray mapping revealed that the brazed joint did not meet the minimum requirement for filler material adhesion required in Aerospace Material Specification (AMS) 2664F for silver brazing.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of a high-pressure fuel line fitting, which resulted in an engine fire during takeoff/initial climb.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 12/29/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1741 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | Anchorage |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99502 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 611028N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1495947W |
| Event Location Airport | Ted Stevens International Airp |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PANC |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 320 |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 53 Atlantic Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PANC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | AST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 40 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.39 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 18708 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Anchorage, ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 29 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1820 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 20 2005 6:27AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Anchorage, FSDO-03 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N858FT |
| NTSB Number | ANC05IA020 |
| 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 | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | 747-123 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 20109 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 750000 |
| 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 | 8 |
| Number of Engines | 4 |
| 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 | POLAR AIR CARGO INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2000 Westchester Ave. |
| Aircraft Owner City | New York |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 10577 |
| 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 | P5CA |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PANC |
| Departure City | Anchorage |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | RKSO |
| Destination City | Osan Air Base |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | KS |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 23 2005 2:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PETL |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 32 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |