Ryan International Airlines Boeing 727-100QC accident
Boeing 727-100QC · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC91FA125
- 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
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- 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
Boeing 727-100QC
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 727
- 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
- N425EX
- Operator
- Ryan International Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Boston, MA
- 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- 1 engine › Failure, total
- Compressor assembly, rotor disc › Failure, total
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Windsor Locks, CT, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
N425EX WAS ON THE TAKEOFF ROLL WHEN THE FLIGHTCREW EXPERIENCED A 'THUMP' THAT RESOUNDED THROUGH THE AIRPLANE. THEY ALSO OBSERVED ERRATIC ENGINE INDICATIONS FROM THE NO.3 ENGINE. THE CAPTAIN ABORTED THE TAKEOFF AND STOPPED THE AIRPLANE ON THE RUNWAY. THE FIRE WARNING SYSTEM ACTIVATED ON THE NO.3 ENGINE AFTER THE AIRPLANE CAME TO REST. THE CREW ATTEMPTED TO EXTINGUISH THE FIRE WITH THE AIRPLANE'S FIRE EXTINGUISHING SYSTEM; HOWEVER, THEY WERE UNSUCCESSFUL. THE POST ACCIDENT EXAMINATION OF THE NO.3 ENGINE REVEALED THE HIGH PRESSURE COMPRESSOR DISK HAD FAILED DUE TO A FATIGUE CRACK THAT ORIGINATED FROM A CORROSION PIT. THE SHRAPNEL FROM THE DISK PENETRATED THE ENGINE NACELLE AND SEVERED THE MAIN FUEL LINE FOR THE ENGINE. THE FUEL IGNITED AND BURNED INTO THE FUSELAGE, IGNITING THE 12,600 LBS OF CARGO (U.S. MAIL).
Probable cause
A CATASTROPHIC AND UNCONTAINED FAILURE OF THE NO.3 ENGINE WHICH RESULTED IN A FUEL FED FIRE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC91FA125
- Event ID
- 20001212X17092
- Case number
- NYC91FA125
- 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: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 45d26a263faff18b720f5cb7bd53fbfe4325cf21237914df7ad64c7e4d82f298; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:55:17.253Z.