- Date
- February 17, 1991, 00:19 local (05:19 UTC)
- Place
- Cleveland, OH
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N565PCMcdonnell Douglas DC-9-15
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report August 5, 1993
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Investigation class
- Class 1
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19910217002609A
- Case key
- 15947
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
The failure of the flightcrew to detect and remove ice contamination on the airplane's wings, which was largely a result of a lack of appropriate response by the federal aviation administration, Douglas aircraft company, and ryan international airlines to the known critical effect that a minute amount of contamination has on the stall characteristics of the DC-9 series 10 airplane. The ice contamination led to wing stall and loss of control during the attempted takeoff. (NTSB report AAR-91/09)
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 flight had flown through weather conducive to airframe ice about 40 min prior to the accident during descent into Cleveland. During the 35-minute turnaround at Cleveland the crew did not exit the airplane to conduct an exterior preflight inspection to verify that the wings were free of ice contamination. It was snowing while they were on the ground. The airplane stalled and rolled into the ground immediately after takeoff. There was no operator requirement for the preflight. The flight had not been given training regarding the effects of wing contamination on the airplane. The FAA and the manufacturer have been aware for several years of the propensity of the DC-9 series 10 to the loss of control caused by wing contamination, but neither of them took positive action to include related information in the approved airplane flight manual.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N565PC
- Reported as
- Mcdonnell Douglas DC-9-15
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 47240
- Engine
- P&W JT8D-7B, 13,000 lbs thrust, turbo jet
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- Ryan International Airlines
- Registered owner
- Wilmington Trust Company
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · January 2, 2000
- Departed
- CLE
- Destination
- IND · Indianapolis, IN
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- CLE · Cleveland-Hopkins Int'L, runway 23L, 8,998 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 10,505 total · 505 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 220° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,500 ft
- Temperature
- 23 °F, dew point 19 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CLE
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.