- Date
- August 10, 1989, 12:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Los Angeles, CA
- Injuries
- 148 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N88709Boeing 727-224
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 26, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890810046269I
- Case key
- 26260
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
A fatigue crack in the right gear wheel well.
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 of Continental flight 1223, a Boeing 727, noted a severe floor vibration between passenger rows 21 and 26 while at FL310 at a cruise speed of 0.8 mach. The crew slowed the aircraft to 280 KTS IAS, descended to FL240 and proceeded to Los Angeles without further difficulty. A 15 1/2 inch continuous crack was found along a row of rivets at the floor line in the right wheel well. The crack was in close proximity to two previous repairs. The cracks appreared to be from fatigue. The repair of the panel involoved installation of a double plate over the region.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N88709
- Reported as
- Boeing 727-224
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 19800
- Airframe hours
- 64,986
- Engine
- P&W JT8D, 15,500 horsepower, turbo fan
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- Continental Airlines
- Registered owner
- Continental Airlines Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · August 3, 1989
- Departed
- SAT · San Antonio, TX
- 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
- Age
- 51
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 19,000 total · 9,600 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N88709 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.