FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

Trans World Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 accident

8 Apr 1992 · Dayton, OH, United States

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure while standing

From an unrecorded airport to St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL)

Show on map Search Wikipedia NTSB source dataset
Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
NYC92LA076
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
1 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
1
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32

Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N926L
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL), St. Louis, MO
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 121: Air Carrier
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Standing
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Airframe, component or system failure
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Minor

Cause areas

  • Landing gear, tire › Pressure excessive
  • Landing gear, wheel › Failure, total
  • Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, replacement, improper
  • Other maintenance personnel › Procedures/directives, not followed

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE LEFT SIDE NOSE WHEEL TIRE WAS DAMAGED DURING PUSHBACK, WHEN THE TOW BAR FAILED. THE TIRE WAS REPLACED AND WHILE BEING SERVICED ON THE AIRPLANE, THE TIRE RIM FAILED, FATALLY INJURING THE MECHANIC. EXAMINATION OF THE BOTTLE USED TO SERVICE THE TIRE SHOWED TWO PRESSURE SCALES, BARS ON THE OUTSIDE AND PSI ON THE INSIDE. ONE BAR EQUALS 14.7 PSI. THE HIGH END OF THE SCALE WAS 10,000 PSI AND THE BOTTLE WAS PRESSURIZED TO 4000 PSI. THE TIRE WAS TO BE SERVICED TO 150 PSI. A CHECK OF THE REGULATOR AFTER THE ACCIDENT DISCLOSED IT WAS PROPERLY CALIBRATED. ACCORDING TO THE FAA, THE TIRE RIM WAS STRESSED TO 580 PSI. EXAMINATION OF THE FRACTURE SURFACE FOUND, 'NO...MANUFACTURING OR MATERIAL DEFECTS...FRACTURE SURFACE IS CONSISTENT WITH A TENSILE OVERLOAD TYPE OF FAILURE.' ACCORDING TO THE COMPANY, NO LOW PRESSURE REGULATORS WERE AVAILABLE. THEY ARE KEPT UNDER LOCK WHEN NOT IN USE AND THE RESPONSIBLE PERSON HAD ALREADY GONE HOME FOR THE DAY.

Probable cause

A FAILED WHEEL RIM FOLLOWING AN INADVERTENT OVER INFLATION BY THE MECHANIC. ADDITIONAL CAUSES WERE THE FAILURE OF THE MECHANIC TO BE AWARE OF THE PRESSURE BEING USED AND HIS FAILURE TO FOLLOW PROCEDURES. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE FAILURE OF THE COMPANY TO MAKE AVAILABLE LOW PRESSURE REGULATORS FOR THEIR MECHANICS DURING NORMAL WORK HOURS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC92LA076
Event ID
20001211X14503
Case number
NYC92LA076
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1992-04-09.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 8207d81bd6d3aac474551cc0772ab6e5ebfe92e87e65a92f6e4b56ce45fe5d14; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:47:21.864Z.