- Date
- January 26, 1985, 14:29 local (20:29 UTC)
- Place
- St. Paul, MN
- Injuries
- 61 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N463USBoeing 727-51
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 12909
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Shortly after takeof, the aircraft experienced an uncontained 7th to 8th stage removable sleeve compressor spacer failure in the number 3 engine. Pieces of the spacer passed through the number 2 engines duct causing compressor stalls in that engine. The aircraft landed sucessfully 9 minutes after takeoff using the single good engine. Metallurgical analysis of the recovered spacer pieces revealed that cadmium embrittlement had occurred around at least one tierod sleeve hole on the spacer. This embrittlement occurred because the spacer was incompletely plated with nickle during a spacer modification that took place in 1975. The incomplete nickle plating allowed a subsequent cadium layer to come in contact with the steel spacer, causing the embrittlement.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N463US
- Reported as
- Boeing 727-51
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18799
- Engine
- P&W JT8D-7B, 12,600 lbs thrust, turbo jet
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Registered owner
- Northwest Orient Airlines
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- MSP
- Destination
- DFW · Dallas, TX
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- MSP · Minneapolis/St. Paul Arpt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 47
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 8,452 total · 3,890 in this make and model · 103 in the last 90 days · 59 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Temperature
- 18 °F, dew point 5 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MSP, 1 nm away