- Date
- January 11, 1983, 02:52 local (07:52 UTC)
- Place
- Detroit, MI
- Injuries
- 3 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N8053UMcDonnell Douglas DC-8-54F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- FAA report
- 19830111004919A
- Case key
- 15777
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
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
According to witnesses, the takeoff roll was normal, & the acft rotated to a takeoff attitude about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way down the rwy. After lift-off, the acft's pitch attitude steepened & the plane climbed to about 1000 ft AGL. The acft then rolled to the right, entered a steep descent, crashed, & burned. The horizontal stabilizer was found at 7.5 units acft nose up (anu). About 65 secs before takeoff, the 1st officer & 2nd officer changed duty positions. The board found that the fltcrew failed to follow procedural checklist requirements & to detect & correct a mistrimmed stabilizer before the acft became uncontrollable. The captain had allowed the 2nd officer to occupy the 1st officer's seat. The 2nd officer had previously taken upgrade training to become a 1st officer, but was unable even with extended training & had volunteered to forego further bidding for the position of 1st officer.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8053U
- Reported as
- McDonnell Douglas DC-8-54F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 46010
- Airframe hours
- 31,902
- Engine
- P&W JT3D-3B, 18,000 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 121
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Destination
- LAX · Los Angeles, CA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- DTW · Detroit Metro, runway 21R, 10,501 × 200 ft, concrete
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 55
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight engineer, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 16,102 total · 2,711 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 220° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,900 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 37 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Observed at
- DTW, 1 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.