Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
West Grove, Pennsylvania 19390
Monday, October 17, 2005 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The left engine exhaust nozzle and fairing departed the airplane during cruise climb. The flight crew reported hearing a "small thud" while climbing through 15,000 feet msl. The flight crew stated that they monitored the aircraft engines and no anomalies were noted. The flight crew attributed the event to possible wake turbulence and elected to continue to their scheduled destination. During a post-flight inspection the flight crew noticed the left engine exhaust nozzle and fairing were missing. The left engine exhaust nozzle was found about 26.5 nm west-southwest of the departure airport. The nozzle was examined and its attachment hardware was missing. The bolt holes used to install the exhaust nozzle to the engine were elongated and had evidence of fretting. The exhaust nozzle manufacturer issued Service Bulletin CF34-NAC-78-024 on January 24, 2003, to address "exhaust nozzle bolt attachment failures." The service bulletin called for the removal of the existing hardware and replacement with "new, improved hardware." This maintenance was to be completed at the "operator's earliest convenience or within a maximum of 4,000 hours." At the time of the incident, the airplane had accumulated 3,440 hours since new. The service bulletin had not been complied with, according to the maintenance records. The operator immediately inspected their entire fleet of Bombardier CL-600-2B19 regional jets and found three additional aircraft with either missing or loose attachment exhaust nozzle hardware. The operator ordered replacement kits for the entire fleet and will comply with Service Bulletin CF34-NAC-78-024 upon delivery of the replacement parts.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The separation of the left engine exhaust nozzle during cruise climb due to inadequately designed attachment hardware.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 10/17/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 25 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | West Grove |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 19390 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 395021N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0754901W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 54 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PHL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 38 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 25 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| 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) | 29.77 |
| 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 | 51 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20145 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 17 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 29 2006 3:49PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Federal Aviation Administration - Cincinnati FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N244PS |
| NTSB Number | CHI06IA011 |
| 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 | Bombardier, Inc. |
| Aircraft Model | CL-600-2B19 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 7912 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 53000 |
| 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 | 53 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3440 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | US Airways, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2345 Crystal Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | Arlington |
| Aircraft Owner State | VI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 22227 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | PSA Airlines, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 3400 Terminal Drive |
| Operator City | Vandalia |
| Operator State | OH |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 45377 |
| Operator Code | VNAA |
| 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 | PHL |
| Departure City | Philadelphia |
| Departure State | PA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 4 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | DAY |
| Destination City | Dayton |
| Destination State | OH |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb - to cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 8 2006 2:52PM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |