DCA85AA003 · Boeing 747-122
Boeing 747-122 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA85AA003
- 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 747-122
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 747
- 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
- N4714U
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Los Angeles, CA
- 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Landing gear, wheel › Failure, partial
- Landing gear, wheel › Overtemperature
- Miscellaneous eqpt/furnishings, slides › Disconnected
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Honolulu, HI, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
AFTER ACCELERATING TO ABOUT 153 KTS DRG THE TAKEOFF ROLL, THE #7 TIRE FAILED & THE FLT CREW ABORTED THE TAKEOFF. THE ACFT WAS STOPPED WITH APRX 3000 FT OF RWY REMAINING. DUE TO A FUEL LEAK FROM THE RIGHT WING, THE CAPT ORDERED AN EVACU- ATION FROM THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ACFT ONLY. HOWEVER, THE 2ND OFFICER DID NOT RELAY THE CAPT'S INSTRUCTIONS OVR THE PA, & WHEN THE CAPT ACTIVATED THE EVACUATION SIGNAL, THE SLIDES/RAFTS WERE DEPLOYED ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ACFT. AFTER APRX 20 OCCUPANTS HAD EVACUATED THRU EXIT 1L, THE STITCHING IN THE GRID BAR LOOPS FAILED AT THAT LOCATION. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE SLIDE/RAFT SEPARATED & 2 PAX WERE SERIOUSLY INJURED. ALSO, 1 FLT ATTENDANT HAD TAKEN A SMALL GIRL TO THE LAVORATORY & WAS NOT IN A PSN TO OPEN HER ASSIGNED EXIT (DOOR 4L); HOWEVER, A PAX WHO TRAVELED OFTEN BY AIR, OPENED THE DOOR. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE #7 TIRE HAD FAILED AFTER THE INNER BEARING OF THAT WHEEL HAD FAILED. THIS CAUSED THE WHEEL & TIRE TO OVERHEAT, WHICH ALLOWED THE FUSES TO MELT & BLOW OUT. THE REASON FOR THE BEARING FAILURE WAS NOT VERIFIED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DCA85AA003
- Event ID
- 20001214X41550
- Case number
- DCA85AA003
- 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: f7e14d9c54d2262f3f826d0e74165c0a3fb2a7b2898e303b2f88affc60ea5861; retrieved 2026-09-18T20:34:47.414Z.