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ATL87IA083 · Saab-Fairchild SF340A

9 Mar 1987 · Covington, KY, United States

Comair Saab-Fairchild SF340A · Incident: airframe, component or system failure

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Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's aircraft involved. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.

Event

NTSB case
ATL87IA083
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
General aviation
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

Saab-Fairchild SF340A Possible conflict

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
N341CA
Operator
Comair
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded
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 91: General Aviation
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
Unknown
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

  • Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, attempted

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

NTSB narrative

AFTER A HYDRAULIC SYS MALFUNCTION, THE CAPT RETURNED TO ARPT TO EXCHANGE ACFT. COMPANY PLT HAD COMPLETED DAY OF FLYING AND WAS ASKED TO TAXI ACFT TO MAINT HANGAR. DEPARTING CAPT WAS IN PROCESS OF MANUALLY PUMPING HYD SYS TO SUFFICIENT PRESSURE TO ENSURE BRAKING ACTION. REPOSITIONING CAPT TOOK LEFT SEAT AND BEGAN TAXI TO HANGAR, CONFIRMED RAMP AREA REQUIRED POWER AND BRAKING TO MANEUVER AWAY FROM BOEING 767 AND FUEL TRUCK. PLT LOST BRAKE PRESSURE AND PLACED PROPS IN REVERSE TO PREVENT COLLISION WITH TRUCK. COLLISION WAS IMMINENT SO PLT ELECTED TO SHUT DOWN ENGINES. AS PROPS TRANSITIONED FROM POWERED REVERSE A BURST OF THRUST ACCELERATED ACFT TO IMPACT WITH FUEL TRUCK AND DELTA JET. EXAM DETERMINED INTERNAL HYDRO PUMP FAILED DRIVE SHAFT DUE TO IMPROPERLY SECURED RETAINER NUT. THE COMPANY HAS SINCE MADE IT MANDATORY FOR 2 PLTS TO BE ON A TAXIIED ACFT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL87IA083
Event ID
20001213X30362
Case number
ATL87IA083
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 1987-03-10.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 325e9f352140e5277527fa5992a404db513fffbc0bb400cfffe91b9de8202eb0; retrieved 2026-09-23T13:27:03.504Z.