Accident · 1998-10-07

What the record says

Event date

1998-10-07

Event type

Accident

Highest injury level

No injuries

Aircraft

Boeing 727-224 (N66734)

Operating rule

Part 121

Operator

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES INC Operator named in NTSB report

Operated by (per NTSB report)

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, INC.

Probable cause

The catastrophic failure of the 8th stage high pressure compressor disk from cadmium embrittlement as a result of improper adherence to the prescribed plating procedures and requirements by the company that last plated the disk. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the engine repair company to provide adequate surveillance and oversight of the plating company, the engine repair companies use of an unauthorized repair vendor, the plating company, and the engine repair companies failure to inform the aircraft operator that they had used the plating company which was not on the aircraft operators vendor list. Also contributing to the accident was the aircraft operators failure to audit the engine repair company to the level of detail that they would have discovered the engine repair company was using an unauthorized repair vendor.

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.