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America West Airlines Boeing 737-204 accident

30 Dec 1989 · Tucson, AZ, United States

Boeing 737-204 · Accident: fire en route

From Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) to Tucson International Airport (TUS)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX90FA061
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 737-204

Aircraft type
Boeing 737
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
N198AW
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, AZTo Tucson International Airport (TUS), Tucson, AZ
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
En route · descent
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
Fire
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Company maintenance personnel › Maintenance, inspection, inadequate
  • Electrical system, electric wiring › Arcing
  • Electrical system, electric wiring › Chafed
  • Fluid, hydraulic › Exhaustion
  • Hydraulic system, line › Leak
  • Landing gear, normal brake system › Worn
  • Thrust reverser, accumulator › Worn

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

NTSB narrative

DURING APPROACH, A FIRE ERUPTED IN THE WHEEL WELL OF THE 22-YR OLD AIRPLANE. THE FIRE BURNED THRU THE HYDRAULIC LINES RENDERING THE A, B, & STANDBY HYD SYSTEMS INOP. THE CREW LANDED THE AIRPLANE USING THE EMERGENCY MANUAL REVERSION FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM. HOWEVER, THE AIRPLANE WAS UNABLE TO STOP ON THE RUNWAY BECAUSE OF THE PREVIOUS FAILURES OF THE CHECK VALVES IN THE BACKUP HYD ACCUMULATOR PRESSURE SYSTEMS FOR THE #2 THRUST REVERSER AND THE INBOARD PAIR OF WHEEL BRAKES. DURING THE 2 MIN ROLLOUT, THE AIRPLANE TRAVERSED 14,000 FT, OVERRAN THE RWY END, AND COLLIDED WITH A CONCRETE STRUCTURE WHICH COLLAPSED THE NOSE GEAR. THE AIRPLANE HAD RECENTLY UNDERGONE A 'C' CHECK DURING WHICH THE OPERATOR'S MECHANICS FAILED TO OBSERVE & REPAIR AN ELECTRIC WIRE WHICH HAD BEEN CHAFING AGAINST A HYD LINE. ON THE ACCIDENT FLT THE ENERGIZED WIRE ARCED, PUNCTURED THE LINE, & IGNITED THE ESCAPING HYD FLUID. THE HYD CHECK VALVES HAD FAILED EARLIER DUE TO MECHANICAL WEAR.

Probable cause

FAILURE OF THE OPERATOR'S MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL TO DETECT AN ELECTRICAL WIRE WHICH HAD CHAFED AGAINST A HYDRAULIC LINE AND WHICH EVENTUALLY ARCED CAUSING A LEAK IN THE HYDRAULIC LINE AND SUBSEQUENT FIRE AND HYDRAULIC SYSTEM FAILURE. IN ADDITION, PREVIOUS WEAR OF CHECK VALVES IN THE BACKUP HYDRAULIC SYSTEMS PREVENTED THE AIRPLANE FROM STOPPING ON THE RUNWAY. A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR WAS THE AIRPLANE MANUFACTURER'S INADEQUATE GUIDANCE FOR MAINTAINING THE HYDRAULIC COMPONENTS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX90FA061
Event ID
20001213X29969
Case number
LAX90FA061
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 1989-12-31.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 4f67cda246180308695648e3c74c7e4707245e8684beebb5dd4f275c02e940b9; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:06:05.854Z.