USAir McDonnell Douglas DC9-31 incident
McDonnell Douglas DC9-31 · Incident: airframe, component or system failure during takeoff
From Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (MSP) to Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)
Event
- NTSB case
- MKC89IA024
- 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
- Incident
- 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
McDonnell Douglas DC9-31
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas DC9
- 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
- N965VJ
- Operator
- USAir
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (MSP), Minneapolis, MNTo Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), Pittsburgh, PA
- 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
- Minor
Cause areas
- 1 engine › Foreign object
- Landing gear, tire › Failure, total
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE SCHEDULED COMMUTER FLT WAS BOARDED WITH PASSENGERS AND ACREW CONSISTING OF 3 FLIGHT ATTENDANTS, THE FIRST OFFICER AND THE CAPTAIN FOR A FLT TO PITTSBURG, PA. AFTER A GATE RELEASE, THE ACFT WAS TAXIED TO RWY 29R AND PREPARED FOR TAKEOFF. THE TAKEOFF ROLL PROGRESSED NORMALLY UNTIL A POINT 4,200 FEET FROM INITIATION. THE CREW REPORTED A VIBRATION AND THE LEFT ENG POWER DIMINISHED. THE TAKEOFF WAS ABORTED, BUT THE ACFT SPEED AT THE TIME OF THE ABORT AND RWY DISTANCE REMAINING WAS INSUFFICIENT TO AVOID DEPARTING THE END OF THE RWY. THE ACFT BECAME MIRED IN THE RAIN SOAKED TERRAIN UP TO THE AXLE. POST-INCIDENT EXAM OF THE LEFT MAIN GEAR TIRES INDICATED A FAILURE OF THE TIRE CARCASS. THE TIRES HAD BEEN RETREADED 300 AND 244 LANDINGS RESPECTIVELY PRIOR TO THE FAILURE. THE CARCASS HOWEVER, HAD NO RECORDS TO SHOW AN OPERATIONAL OR REPLACEMENT HISTORY. THE REASON FOR THE FAILURE OF THE CARCASS WAS NOT DETERMINED. THE CAUSE OF THE INITIAL POWER LOSS ON THE LEFT ENG WAS FROM INJESTION OF TIRE DEBRIS.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE LEFT MAIN LANDING GEAR TIRE CARCASS AND THE INGESTION OF THE TIRE DEBRIS INTO THE LEFT ENGINE WHICH HINDERED NORMAL OPERATION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MKC89IA024
- Event ID
- 20001213X27318
- Case number
- MKC89IA024
- 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 1988-11-16.
- API snapshot SHA-256: fd7ced1c1296074fd88ca485aaa431c529ea3da84b693d28009777073743fa7c; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:16:34.355Z.