- Date
- August 28, 1992, 00:17 local (05:17 UTC)
- Place
- Morton Grove, IL
- Injuries
- 6 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N845AXDouglas DC-8-61
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report December 16, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920828037119I
- Case key
- 15326
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
Failure of the right main landing gear door actuator.
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
During climb, the right main landing gear door actuator and the main landing gear door separarted from the airplane. The door actuator collided with a residence, passing through the roof and lodging in the ceiling. During the return flight to chicago, the airplane experienced total hydraulic pressure and fluid loss, but landed without incident. Both the operating gland housing and shaft, and the actuator rod end of the right main gear door had fractured. Metallugical examination of the gland shaft fracture revealed beach markings and other surface features that in the most part were typical of unidirectional bending fatigue progression.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N845AX
- Reported as
- Douglas DC-8-61
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 46157
- Airframe hours
- 42,285
- Engine
- P&W JT39-3B, 18,000 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- Airborne Express Inc.
- Registered owner
- Wilmington Trust Co. Trustee
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · August 27, 1992 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- ORD · Chicago, IL
- Destination
- ILN · Wilmington, OH
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- ORD · O'Hare International
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
- 46
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 13,500 total · 2,216 in this make and model · 139 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 340° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,200 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ORD, 5 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.