MIA84IA064 · Douglas DC-9-51
Douglas DC-9-51 · Incident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Tampa International Airport (TPA) to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA84IA064
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Douglas DC-9-51
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-9
- 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
- N401EA
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Tampa International Airport (TPA), Tampa, FLTo Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, GA
- 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 · climb to cruise
- 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
- Minor
Cause areas
- Maintenance, replacement › Improper
- Turbine assembly, seal › Failure, partial
- Turbine assembly, seal › Improper
- Turbine assembly, seal › Leak
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Tampa, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
WHILE CLIMBING AFTER TAKEOFF THRU ABOUT 3000 FT, THE CREW NOTED THAT THE #2 EPR HAD DROPPED ABOUT .08, FROM APRX 1.82 TO 1.74 EPR. SHORTLY AFTER THAT, THE 1ST OFFICER NOTED THAT THE AVM ON THE #2 ENG WAS AT THE MAX INDICATION. AT ABOUT 4000 FT, THERE WAS A LOUD EXPLOSIVE TYPE NOISE FROM THE REAR OF THE ACFT AS THE RIGHT ENG LOST POWER. THE CREW SECURED THE RIGHT ENG, RETURNED TO TAMPA & LANDED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. AN EXAM REVEALED THAT TURBINE BLADES HAD EXITED THE SIDE OF THE ENG TAILPIPE. TEARDOWN REVEALED THAT THE HIGH PRESSURE COMPRESSOR CENTER TUBE SEALING RING HAD AN APRX 1 IN (CIRCUMFERENTIAL) PIECE OF HARD SURFACE PLATING MISSING FROM THE OUTSIDE DIAMETER SEALING SURFACE. THIS FAILURE WAS IN AXIAL ALIGNMENT WITH A GAP IN THE REAR PISTON RING. NEITHER RING COMFORMED TO DESIGN SPECS. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THAT HOT AIR CAUSED COKING OF THE OIL. THE TURBINE SHAFT HAD FAILED APRX 13 INCHES FORWARD OF THE 4-1/2 BEARING. THE 4-1/2 BEARING SEALS WERE DAMAGED, 7 DISPLAYED COKE DEPOSITS. THE LOW PRESS TURBINE MOVED AFT INTERMESHING BLADES & STATORS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA84IA064
- Event ID
- 20001214X38628
- Case number
- MIA84IA064
- 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: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: d809e872945cbe466436ddd8927940ccf41c1825840a1cfebd8b3ac432831a6d; retrieved 2026-09-18T20:45:04.811Z.