Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Henry E Rohlsen Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
St. Croix, Virgin Islands 00850
Monday, January 11, 2010 20:00 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During takeoff the No. 1 (left) engine fire warning illuminated in the cockpit. The pilot declared an emergency, shut down the No. 1 engine and discharged one fire bottle. The fire warning continued and the pilot discharged the second bottle; but the fire warning did not extinguish. The pilot performed an air turnback and landed the airplane uneventfully approximately 11 minutes later.
Engine testing at the manufacturer’s facility revealed a large fuel leak emanating from the No. 2 fuel nozzle manifold adapter-to-transfer tube O-ring connection.
Examination revealed two manufacturing defects in the No. 2 fuel nozzle manifold adapter. The first defect, poor surface finish, caused damage to the transfer tube O-ring during the installation process, initiating an internal fuel leak. The second defect, blockage of the internal safety tell-tale drain due to an improper machining and subsequent cleaning procedure, prevented the leaking fuel from flowing into the tell-tale drain and being detected by maintenance personnel.
Examination of the transfer tubes revealed an undersized O-ring retention zone, which allowed the O-ring to fit loosely such that it was not capable of withstanding continuous maximum fuel pressure load. Eventually the O-ring failed to seal properly, fuel leaked and was ignited by the hot combustor case. The undersized O-ring retention zone was created during the cleaning and overhaul process of the transfer tube.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The sealing failure between the fuel nozzle adapter assembly and fuel transfer tubes that allowed fuel to leak into the nacelle fire zone where it was subsequently ignited by the hot combustor case. Contributing to the failure was a combination of manufacturing defects of the fuel nozzle adapter assembly by the manufacturer and incorrectly overhauled fuel transfer tubes by the engine manufacturer. Contributing to the incident was a second defect of the fuel nozzle adapter assembly by the manufacturer which prevented maintenance personnel from detecting the internal fuel leak.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 1/11/2010 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 2000 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | St. Croix |
| Event State | VIRGIN ISLANDS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 00850 |
| Event Date Year | 2010 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Henry E Rohlsen Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | STX |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | -- |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 48 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 31703 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Executive Airlines |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 14 2013 3:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | reih |
| Basic weather conditions | -- |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N434AT |
| NTSB Number | ENG10IA010 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | ATR |
| Aircraft Model | ATR72 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 212A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 434 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | American Airlines |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Amon Carter Boulevard, CentrePort Commercial Park |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fort Worth |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | American Airlines |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | Amon Carter Boulevard, CentrePort Commercial Park |
| Operator City | Fort Worth |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | AALA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | Yes |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | AALA025A |
| 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 | STX |
| Departure City | St. Croix |
| Departure State | VI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2000 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | STX |
| Destination City | St. Croix |
| Destination State | VI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 5 2013 12:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |