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| Title: | Roll control difficulties, McDonnell Douglas MD-11F, N583FE, January 15, 2003 |
| Micro summary: | This airplane experienced uncommanded roll following lowering of flaps. |
| Event Time: | 2003-01-15 at 2038 UTC |
| File Name: | 2003-01-15-UK.pdf |
| Publishing Agency: | Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) |
| Publishing Country: | United Kingdom |
| Report number: | EW/C2003/01/03 |
| Pages: | 4 |
| Site of event: | 6 miles north-east of Stansted Airport |
| Departure: | Charles De Gaulle International Airport (Roissy Airport), Paris, France |
| Destination: | London Stansted Airport, Essex, England |
| Airplane Type(s): | McDonnell Douglas MD-11F |
| Flight Phase: | Approach |
| Registration(s): | N583FE |
| Operator(s): | Federal Express |
| Type of flight: | Revenue |
| Occupants: | 3 |
| Fatalities: | 0 |
| Serious Injuries: | 0 |
| Minor/Non-Injured: | 3 |
| Other Injuries: | 0 |
| Executive Summary: | The flight from Paris to Stansted, where the weather was fine, was uneventful until the approach to Runway 23. At about 4,000 feet, flap 35° was selected and the first officer noticed that he needed a small amount of rudder trim to keep the aircraft in balance. The flaps were then selected to 50° and shortly afterwards the captain felt a 'thump', similar to that of a birdstrike. Thereafter, the first officer needed to apply a large amount of right aileron to keep the wings level. The crew quickly reselected the flaps to 35° whereupon most of the requirement for right aileron disappeared. After a brief discussion the crew decided to reselect flaps to 50° with the Configuration Page selected on the Synoptic Display of the EFIS system. On reselection of flaps to 50°, the requirement for right aileron reappeared but, apart from the displacement of the ailerons from the neutral position, all other indications on the Configuration Page, including those for flaps, were normal. The crew reselected the flaps to 35° and carried out a normal landing. During taxi after landing, the flaps were raised and, shortly thereafter, the Electronic Instrument System alerting system gave a 'HYD 2 QTY LO' message followed shortly by a 'HYD 2 FAIL' message. On inspection after landing, a large section of the left inboard flap vane was found to be missing. A section of flap vane was later recovered from the village of Thaxted, some 6 miles to the north-east of Stansted. The DFDR recording showed that just over 50% of right aileron full travel was required to keep the wings level with flaps 50° extended. After the flaps had been retracted to 35°, this requirement reduced to about 15%. |
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