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MKC89IA082 · Gulfstream 690A

20 Mar 1989 · BISMARK, ND, United States

Gulfstream 690A · Incident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb

From an unrecorded airport to Hector International Airport (FAR)

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Event

NTSB case
MKC89IA082
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
Charter & commuter
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

Gulfstream 690A

Aircraft type
Gulfstream 690
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
N690MF
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo Hector International Airport (FAR), Fargo, ND
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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
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
Initial climb
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
Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
None

Cause areas

  • Combustion assembly, inner casing › Cracked

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

NTSB narrative

WHILE CLIMBING AFTER TAKEOFF AT NIGHT, THE RIGHT ENGINE FAILED. THE FIGHT CREW SECURED THE RIGHT ENGINE & RETURNED TO A SAFE LANDING AT THE AIRPORT. AN ENGINE INSPECTION REVEALED A CRACK IN THE PLENUM COMBUSTOR CHAMBER. THE CRACK EMINATED FROM A WELD BETWEEN TWO EXTERNALLY FIXED (WELDED) MOUNTS. THIS WAS THE SECOND PLENUM CHAMBER USED ON THIS ENGINE IN SIX MONTHS AND WAS OBTAINED FROM SPARE PARTS OF ANOTHER AIRCRAFT. IT WAS VISUALLY DETERMINED TO BE AIRWORTHY. NO OPERATIONAL HISTORY WAS AVAILABLE ON THIS PLENUM, NOR WAS THERE A SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT. REPLACEMENT WAS ON CONDITION, AND DAMAGE CONDITIONS WERE REQUIRED TO MEET THE MANUFACTURERS CRITERIA.

Probable cause

A FAILED (CRACKED) ENGINE PLENUM RESULTING IN LOSS OF ENGINE POWER.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MKC89IA082
Event ID
20001213X27959
Case number
MKC89IA082
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, damage. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1989-03-21.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 20e98912fa706bead78d0cd7ef3438768c19943f4d3f9c089088e7f59e0e9136; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:13:18.601Z.