- Date
- March 16, 1990, 16:57 local (Mar 17, 1990, 00:57 UTC)
- Place
- Santa Ana, CA
- Injuries
- 110 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N306AWBoeing 737-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 14, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900316066279A
- Case key
- 26759
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 pilot's improper rotation during takeoff.
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 airplane sustained a tail strike during rotation. The flight continued to las vegas, and post-flight inspection revealed that there was substantial damage to the pressure bulkhead. The company's operational manual cautions the flight crew to limit the initial pitch attitude to 9-10 deg, and to rotate smoothly at a maximum rate of 3 deg/sec. The dfdr readout revealed that the rotation rate exceeded 7 deg/sec.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N306AW
- Reported as
- Boeing 737-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24633
- Engine
- GE CFM 56-3-B1, turbo fan
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- America West Airlines
- Registered owner
- America West Airlines Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Destination
- LAS · Las Vegas, NV
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- SNA · John Wayne, runway 19R, 5,700 × 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
- 39
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 7,240 total · 3,725 in this make and model · 230 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °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.
Other investigations on N306AW · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.