- Date
- November 26, 1990, 07:06 local (11:06 UTC)
- Place
- St. Thomas
- Injuries
- 47 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N971NAATR ATR-42-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 30, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19901126062269I
- Case key
- 32766
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
The NTSB’s determination of the probable cause, and any contributing factors.
The failure of the left main landing gear side brace lower arm due to fatigue resulting from corrosion formation, which resulted from improper design to prevent corrosion formation.
Analysis
Left main landing gear collapsed during taxi from landing. Left main landing gear side brace lower arm had separated due to fatigue in the area where a bearing is mounted. The fatigue crack originated in an area of corrosion damage on the lower arm outside of the bearing race.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N971NA
- Reported as
- ATR ATR-42-300 (ATR 42-300)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- ATR42-300
- Airframe hours
- 7,728
- Engine
- P&W PW-120, 2,100 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- Executive Air Charter, Inc., doing business as American Eagle
- Registered owner
- Executive Airlines Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Departed
- SJU · San Juan, PR
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- STT · Cyrile E. King
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
- 38
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 16,320 total · 2,710 in this make and model · 73 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- STT
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.