- Date
- January 27, 1988, 22:20 local (Jan 28, 1988, 03:20 UTC)
- Place
- Decatur, MI
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 81 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N262AAMcdonnell Douglas DC-9-82
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report April 25, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880127023259A
- Case key
- 36089
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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 flight attendant was pulling a beverage cart up the aisle when the pad the coffee pot was resting on caught against a curtain. The pad was pulled off the cart and the full pot of coffee spilled in a passengers lap. The passenger service cart has a recessed area for the coffee pot. However, the flight attendant did not use it. The passenger received 2nd degree burns on his leg and hip. The passenger said he wished to continue to his destination. When the flight landed the passenger was met by paramedics who transportated him to a local hospital where he stayed for 3 days.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N262AA
- Reported as
- Mcdonnell Douglas DC-9-82
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 49290
- Engine
- P&W JT8D, 14,500 horsepower, turbo fan
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Registered owner
- American Airlines
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- ORD · Chicago, IL
- Destination
- BUF · Buffalo, NY
- 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
- 52
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 11,000 total · 800 in this make and model · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.