- Date
- November 3, 1988, 02:20 local (07:20 UTC)
- Place
- Bridgetown, Bahamas
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 211 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N9674Boeing B-747-123
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report July 9, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 36369
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 failure of the flight attendant to notice that the elevator was not present as she entered the elevator shaft and prior to closing the door.
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 entered the elevator shaft, failed to notice the elevator was not present and closed the elevator door behind her. At the same time a flight attendant on the upper deck entered the elevator and started the elevator down. The flight attendant below the elevator screamed and the elevator was stopped then returned to the upper level. The flight attendant suffered a lacreated scalp and compression of the T2 and T5 vertebrae. According to the operator, there were visual cues present that would indicate the elevator was not present.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9674
- Reported as
- Boeing B-747-123
- Category
- Airplane
- Engine
- P&W JT90-7A, turbo fan
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Registered owner
- Pan Am
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- JFK · New York, NY
- Destination
- GIG · Rio De Janeiro, OF
- Flight plan
- IFR
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 58
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 19,500 total · 5,700 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark