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DCA85AA013 · McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15

5 Feb 1985 · Philadelphia, PA, United States

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb

From Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Wilmington Airpark (ILN)

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Event

NTSB case
DCA85AA013
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
Instrument Meteorological Cond

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15

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
N926AX
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)To Wilmington Airpark (ILN), Wilmington, OH
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
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
Loss of control in flight
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Stall
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

  • Pilot in command › Ice/frost removal from aircraft, not performed
  • Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
  • Wing › Ice

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

NTSB narrative

AFTER LNDG, THE ACFT WAS PARKED ON THE RAMP FOR APRX 39 MIN TO LOAD CARGO. DRG THAT TIME, LGT FREEZING DRIZZLE WAS FALLING, INTERMITTENTLY MIXED WITH ICE PELLETS & SNW. THE CREW CHECKED THE ACFT SURFACES FROM THE COCKPIT & ENTRY DOOR, BUT OBSERVED NO ICE OR SNW ADHERING TO THE TOPS OF THE WINGS, NOSE SECTION, WINDSHIELD OR ABOVE THE DOOR. THE CAPT DECLINED AN OFFER TO DE-ICE, THO OTR ACFT WERE BEING DE-ICED. THE TAKEOFF WAS NRML (18 DEG NOSE UP ATTITUDE) UNTIL JUST AFTER LIFT-OFF, THEN THE ACFT ENTERED AN UNCOMMANDED L ROLL & BOTH ENGS COMPRESSOR STALLED. THE CAPT CORRECTED WITH L AILERON & RUDDER, THEN BEGAN ABORTING THE TAKEOFF. THE ACFT TOUCHED DWN LEFT OF THE RWY ON THE TAIL SKID & R WING TIP,APRX 5600' FROM THE THRESHOLD & ON A 070 DEG HDG. IT THEN TRAVELED ANOTHER 2025' IN A SWEEPING RIGHT ARC, HITTING 2 RWY SIGNS & CAME TO REST HDG WEST WITH THE R PYLON BENT DOWN. INV REVEALED A THIN LAYER OF ICE (EST 0.15' THICK) WOULD HAVE BEEN ON THE WINGS, RAISING THE ACFT'S STALL SPEED. WHEN DC-9-15 ACFT STALL, ENGS ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO COMPRESSOR STALLS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record DCA85AA013
Event ID
20001214X35671
Case number
DCA85AA013
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 1985-02-06.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 39e8a79d21ab21dcdf0b1506dd90a69447c744fdffce0a14a2a8ce7cae260b30; retrieved 2026-09-18T20:31:15.239Z.