- Date
- March 17, 1990, 11:30 local (17:30 UTC)
- Place
- Wichita, KS
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 135 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N17317Boeing 737-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 30, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900317020449I
- Case key
- 34887
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
Improper installation of level arm.
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
Boeing 737-300 aborted takeoff from Wichita, Kansas when the right engine had power loss and was on fire. The investigation revealed no evidence of foreign object damage to the engine. The engine teardown results revealed engine failure was due to a disengaged lever arm of variable stator vane on stage near high pressure compressor area resulting in high sycle fatigue of a stage 1 blade in hpc. An emergency slide upper girt bar suffered overload type failure during evacuation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N17317
- Reported as
- Boeing 737-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 23368
- Airframe hours
- 13,118
- Engine
- CFM CFM56-3-1, 20,000 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- Continental Airlines
- Registered owner
- Wilmington Trust Company
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · March 9, 1990 · 78 hours before
- Destination
- DEN · Denver, CO
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- ICT · Wichita Mid-Continent, runway 1R, 7,302 × 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
- 43
- 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
- 7,680 total · 1,025 in this make and model · 200 in the last 90 days · 90 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 330° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 28 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ICT
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.