PDA

View Full Version : A new wrinkle (in the aft fuselage)


marrm
13th Nov 2004, 19:10
Anyone seen this one before:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20041020X01664&key=1

text:

Accident occurred Friday, October 08, 2004 in Anchorage, AK
Aircraft: Boeing MD-11F, registration: N275WA
Injuries: 2 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On October 8, 2004, about 1628 Alaska daylight time, a Boeing MD-11F airplane, N275WA, received substantial damage when the lower empennage collided with the runway during an attempted takeoff from the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska. The two airline transport certificated pilots were not injured. The flight was operated by World Airways, Inc., as a Title 14, CFR Part 91 ferry flight to the operator's maintenance base at Atlanta, Georgia. An IFR flight plan was filed, but not activated.

Information received from the operator's vice president of flight operations disclosed that the flight crew had received an FAA-approved permit to ferry the empty, three engine airplane to Atlanta with the center (number two) engine inoperative. In order to enhance the climb performance and reduce drag, the crew elected to takeoff with the center landing gear retracted, but was dispatched with center of gravity (CG) information calculated for the center gear extended. As calculated, using data for the center gear extended, the airplane's CG was within the allowable aft CG limitations. When the center gear is retracted, however, the aft CG limit shifts forward. Using the correct, gear retracted CG data, the actual takeoff CG was approximately 3.2 percent of mean aerodynamic chord (MAC) aft of the allowable limit. Upon application of full takeoff power and brake release, the airplane immediately rotated to an excessive nose-up attitude, and the lower empennage struck the runway. The crew aborted the takeoff, and taxied to parking.

Examination of the airplane by the NTSB's investigator-in-charge, and a review of the maintenance repair estimate by Boeing Aircraft Corporation, indicated that structural damage to two fuselage frames and at least two longerons had occurred. Also, a section of lower fuselage skin, approximately 4 feet by 8 feet, will have to be removed and replaced.