Event Details


Title:Tail strike on takeoff, Boeing 747-128, December 28, 2001
Micro summary:This Boeing 747-128 experienced a tail strike on takeoff.
Event Time:2001-12-28 at 0727 AST
File Name:2001-12-28-US.pdf
Publishing Agency:National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
Publishing Country:USA
Report number:ANC02LA008
Pages:5
Site of event:Anchorage, AK
Departure:Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Destination:Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield, California, USA
Airplane Type(s):Boeing 747-128
Flight Phase:Takeoff
Registration(s):N3203Y
Operator(s):Evergreen International Airlines
Type of flight:Cargo
Occupants:3
Fatalities:
Serious Injuries:
Minor/Non-Injured:3
Other Injuries:0
Executive Summary:

NTSB short summary:

The flight crew's inadequate preflight planning, and failure to calculate the airplane weight and balance prior to departure.

NTSB synopsis:

The flight crew of a Boeing 747 cargo airplane made a scheduled fuel stop in Anchorage, Alaska, in preparation for the final leg of the flight to Travis AFB. The accident airplane was refueled with about 100,000 lbs. of fuel. During takeoff in Anchorage, the tail of the airplane struck the runway, and sustained substantial damage. A postaccident investigation revealed that prior to departure, the crew failed to account for the weight of the additional fuel, and inadvertently used the same performance cards that were used for the previous landing. The crew was unaware that the tail had struck the runway until after arrival at Travis AFB.



NTSB factual narrative text:

On December 28, 2001, about 0727 Alaska standard time, a Boeing 747-128 airplane, N3203Y, sustained substantial damage as a result of a tail strike during takeoff from the Ted Stevens International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska. The flight was being conducted as an instrument (IFR) cross-country cargo flight under Title 14, CFR Part 121, operated by Evergreen International Airlines, Inc., as Flight 203. There were no injuries to the two pilots, or the one flight engineer aboard. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight plan had been filed. The flight originated about 0712, from the Ted Stevens International Airport, and was en route to Travis Air Force Base (AFB), California.

During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on January 31, the operator's chief pilot reported that after the accident airplane arrived in Anchorage, the airplane was refueled with about 100,000 lbs. of fuel in preparation for the final leg of the flight to Travis AFB. He said that prior to departure, the crew failed to account for the weight of the additional fuel, and inadvertently used the same performance cards that were used for the previous landing. He added that the crew was unaware that the tail had struck the runway until after arrival at Travis AFB.

The airplane's tail sustained substantial damage as a result of the tail strike. The airplane was flown to Marana, Arizona, for repairs.







Learning Keywords:Operations - Center of Gravity/MAC
Operations - Loading
Operations - Tailstrike
Consequence - Damage - Airframe or fuselage
Close match:Tail strike during take-off, Boeing 747-412 9V-SMT, flight SQ286, Auckland International Airport 12 March 2003
Tailstrike on takeoff, Serious incident occurring on November 29, 2002 at Dortmund Airport involving a Boeing 737-800
Uncommanded rotation, Incident involving aircraft LN-RPL at Gothenburg/Landvetter Airport, O county, Sweden, on 7 December 2003
Loading error, Airbus A340-642, G-VSHY
Uncommanded pitch-up, Airbus A320-214, G-OOAR
Tail strike on rotation, Boeing 777-200B, N784UA
Uncommanded pitch-up, Fokker F27-600 Friendship, G-CHNL
Loss of Pitch Control During Takeoff, Air Midwest Flight 5481, Raytheon (Beechcraft) 1900D, N233YV, Charlotte, North Carolina, January 8, 2003
Stall on takeoff, Bombardier CL-600-2B16 (CL-604), C-FTBZ , Mid-Continent Airport, Wichita, Kansas, October 10, 2000
Uncontrolled Impact With Terrain, Fine Airlines Flight 101, Douglas DC-8-61, N27UA, Miami, Florida, August 7, 1997
Loss of control on takeoff, United Airlines Flight 2885, N8053U, McDonnell Douglas DC-8-54F, Detroit, Michigan, January 11, 1983
Weight and Balance complications, McDonnell Douglas MD-83, March 7, 2000
Tail strike on landing from FMS error, McDonnell Douglas MD-11, November 11, 1998
Runway overrun, Airbus A320, Detroit, March 17, 2001
Runway overrun Onur Air, Runway overrun after rejected take-off of the Onur Air MD-88, registration TC-ONP, at Groningen Airport Eelde on 17 June 2003

 




Accident Reports on DVD, Copyright © 2006 by Flight Simulation Systems, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.
 All referenced trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
www.fss.aero