Service difficulty report · Tab · Doug MD88

Difficulty date
May 2, 2017
Submitted
May 8, 2017
Operation
Air carrier
Aircraft
N940DL
Make and model
Doug MD88
Aircraft serial
49813
Aircraft time
73,562 hours, 54,690 cycles
Part
Tab
Condition
Damaged
Location
Elevator
Stage of operation
CL
How discovered
O
Nature of condition
E
Precautionary procedure
A

As reported to the FAA. Reports are unverified, and codes are left as the FAA publishes them.

What was found

VIBRATION FELT ON CLIMB AND GRADUALLY GOT WORSE AS ALTITUDE INCREASED. VIBRATION SAME WITH OR WITHOUT AUTOPILOT ON. DECISION MADE TO DIVERT. VIBRATION INCREASED WHEN MAKING TURNS AND REALLY INCREASED ON APPROACH CONFIGURATION. VIBRATION WENT AWAY BELOW 200KNTS ON FINAL APPROACH. FOUND RIGHT ELEVATOR MIDDLE TRIM TAB WITH PUSHROD SEPARATED FROM ROD END. FOUND BOLT MISSING AND FITTING DAMAGED TO ATTACH POINT INBOARD OF MIDDLE TRIM TAB. REPLACED RT ELEVATOR AND ALL 3 TRIM TABS. REQUIRED INSPECTION COMPLETED FOR ALL ASSOCIATED INSTALLATIONS.

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