- Date
- August 9, 1989, 18:18 local (Aug 10, 1989, 00:18 UTC)
- Place
- Denver, CO
- Injuries
- 254 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N133JCMcdonnell Douglas DC-10-40
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported
- Status
- Completed · report October 7, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- Case key
- 15912
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
Fatigue failure and separation of a first-stage compressor fan blade.
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
While climbing through 38,000 feet, the aircraft experienced an uncontained fan blade separation in the no. 2 engine. Investigation revealed that one of the first-stage compressor fan blades (s/n EB2506) had separated about 8 inches above the blade platform. Fragments from the blade (#8) had exited through the left fan cowl in three places and had penetrated the vertical stabilizer. The blade separation stemmed from a 0.34-inch long fatigue crack that began in a weld adjacent to a patch. The fan blade had been patch-repaired earlier, and subjected to four non-destructive tests: x-ray, fluorescent penetrant, ultrasonic, and eddy current.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N133JC
- Reported as
- Mcdonnell Douglas DC-10-40
- Category
- Airplane
- Engine
- P&W JT9D-20J, turbo fan
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Registered owner
- Northwest Airlines, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- AAIP · July 28, 1989 · 32 hours before
- Departed
- Los Angeles, CA
- Destination
- Minneapolis, MN
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported