- Date
- October 14, 1989, 14:19 local (21:19 UTC)
- Place
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Injuries
- 5 minor, 17 uninjured; on the ground: 3 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N530DABoeing 727-232
- Weather
- Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 21, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19891014066559A
- Case key
- 15929
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
A fire which started in the passenger oxygen system for undetermined reasons. Contributing to the accident was the failure of delta airlines to recognize, attend to and correct repeated leaks in the oxygen system.
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
The crew heard a muffled explosion & saw flames coming from the vent near seat 3-D while acft was parkked at gate. Location of fire prevented crew from returning to cockpit to notify CFR & illuminate emerg floor lighting. Passengers & crew evacuated acft. Second officer, last to leave, could not reach rear airstairs & exited via emerg window exit after having difficulty in locating an exit because of smoke. A mechanic noted low passenger oxygen supply during preflight & replaced oxygen cylinders. While exiting the electrical equip bay the mechanic saw a white flash engulf the oxygen system flow control unit. He attempted to have CFR notified of the fire using a hand held radio to no avail. The passenger oxygen system had 6 low oxygen quantity maintenance write-ups during previous 30 days but was not 'flagged' by company automated trend analysis program because of the job title of the person entering the write-ups. Inspection of delta's fleet revealed 35 oxygen system leaks on other acft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N530DA
- Reported as
- Boeing 727-232
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 21813
- Airframe hours
- 30,173
- Engine
- P&W JT8D-15A, 15,500 lbs thrust, turbo jet
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 121
- Registered owner
- Delta Airlines, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · September 30, 1989 · 150 hours before
- Destination
- VEG · Edmonton Canada, OF
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- SLC · Salt Lake City
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
- 45
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 15,000 total · 5,000 in this make and model · 8,000 as pilot in command · 200 in the last 90 days · 70 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Day
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.