ATL84FA173 · Boeing 727
Boeing 727 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route
From Nashville International Airport (BNA) to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW)
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL84FA173
- 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 727
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 727
- 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
- N723RW
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Nashville International Airport (BNA), Nashville, TNTo Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), Detroit, MI
- 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 · 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
- 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
- None
Cause areas
- Emergency equipment › Improper use of
- Miscellaneous eqpt/furnishings, slides › Failure, total
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AFTER LEVELING AT FL330, THE #2 ENG FIRE WARNING LIGHT & BELL ACTIVATED. THE CREW FOLLOWED THE PUBLISHED PROCEDURES, SHUT DOWN THE ENG & USED A FIRE BOTTLE. THEY THEN DIVERTED TO CINCINNATI & MADE A PRECAUTIONARY LANDING. AFTER LANDING, FIRE DEPT PERSONNEL MONITORED THE ACFT & RADIOED INFO TO GROUND CONTROL. IN TURN, GROUND CONTROL RELAYED INFO TO THE CREW WHILE TAXIING. FIRE TRUCK PERSONNEL REPORTED SEEING A 'SMALL AMOUNT' OF SMOKE FROM THE #1 ENG. GROUND CONTROL RELAYED THE INFO WITHOUT THE WORDS 'SMALL AMOUNT.' SUBEQUENTLY, THE ACFT WAS STOPPED & WAS EVACUATED USING THE ESCAPE SLIDES. 1 PASSENGER WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED WHEN A SLIDE BURST. THERE WAS EVIDENCE IT WAS PUNCTURED BY A SHOE NAIL AFTER THE SHOE'S HEEL CAME OFF. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THERE WAS A FALSE FIRE WARNING INDICATION DUE TO A SHORTED FIRE DETECTOR. THE FLT ATTENDANTS (F/A) WERE NOT PROPERLY BRIEFED. 1 F/A UNHOOKED A GIRT BAR BEFORE OPENING EXIT 4R, RENDERING IT UNUSABLE. SOME PASSENGERS TRIED TO EXIT WITH CARRY-ON BAGGAGE. THE REAR STAIR EXIT WAS NOT USED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL84FA173
- Event ID
- 20001214X39459
- Case number
- ATL84FA173
- 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, damage. 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: 3de62a7767e565a760f9a4d7b48baa674d21da66669b31db03355a1299b397c4; retrieved 2026-09-18T20:41:27.806Z.