Accident · 1991-02-17

What the record says

Event date

1991-02-17

Event type

Accident

Highest injury level

Fatal injury

Aircraft

MCDONNELL DOUGLAS DC-9-15 (N565PC)

Operating rule

Part 121

Operator

RYAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES INC Operator named in NTSB report

Operated by (per NTSB report)

RYAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES

Probable cause

THE FAILURE OF THE FLIGHTCREW TO DETECT AND REMOVE ICE CONTAMINATION ON THE AIRPLANE'S WINGS, WHICH WAS LARGELY A RESULT OF A LACK OF APPROPRIATE RESPONSE BY THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DOUGLAS AIRCRAFT COMPANY, AND RYAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES TO THE KNOWN CRITICAL EFFECT THAT A MINUTE AMOUNT OF CONTAMINATION HAS ON THE STALL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DC-9 SERIES 10 AIRPLANE. THE ICE CONTAMINATION LED TO WING STALL AND LOSS OF CONTROL DURING THE ATTEMPTED TAKEOFF. (NTSB REPORT AAR-91/09)

Flight crew

Flight-crew details for this event aren't in the NTSB database extract we hold (its coverage starts with 2008 events) — a gap in our data, not an absence of crew.