- Date
- September 16, 1992, 22:20 local (Sep 17, 1992, 05:20 UTC)
- Place
- Yuma, AZ
- Injuries
- 8 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N90187McDonnell Douglas MD-11
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report September 14, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920916042139I
- Case key
- 27461
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
An unstable interaction between the center body main landing gear and the brake 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
Mcdonnell Douglas instrumented a flight test MD11 to explore two previous in service incidents of center main body landing gear drag link failures. The test protocol was designed to replicate the known circumstances of the two in service failures. During the landing on the test flight, a failure of the drag link was induced, which allowed the center main body gear to fold aft damaging the wheel well and adjacent skin panels. Examination of the instrumentation data revealed that the drag link failure was the result of a dynamic instability of the center body gear due to an unfavorable interaction between the center body landing gear and the brake control system (including the anti skid and auto brake sub systems). As a corrective action, the manufacturer developed a modification to the anti skid control unit.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N90187
- Reported as
- McDonnell Douglas MD-11
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 48437
- Engine
- P&W PW4460, 60,000 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Operator
- Mcdonnel Douglass Corp
- Registered owner
- Mcdonnel Douglass Corp
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · January 2, 2000
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- YUM · Yuma Intl, runway 21, 13,299 × 200 ft, concrete
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 47
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 15,000 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °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.