Frontier Airlines Boeing 737-291 incident
Boeing 737-291 · Incident: airframe, component or system failure during takeoff
From Denver International Airport (DEN) to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN82IA154
- 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
Boeing 737-291
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737
- 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
- N7356F
- Operator
- Frontier Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Denver International Airport (DEN), Denver, COTo 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
- 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
- Minor
Cause areas
- Landing gear, wheel › Fatigue
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE CAPTAIN SAID HE FELT A "THUMP" AND THE AIRCRAFT SLUMPED TO THE LEFT AS IT WAS ROTATED FOR TAKEOFF. AT THIS POINT, THE AIRCREW WERE COMMITTED TO CONTINUE THE TAKEOFF WHICH ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY. A LOW PASS WAS MADE FOR TOWER PERSONNEL TO CHECK THE AIRCRAFT. THEY CONFIRMED THAT THE LEFT OUTBOARD TIRE WAS MISSING AND THE LEFT INBOARD TIRE APPEARED TO BE FLAT. THE PLANE WAS FLOWN FOR 2 HRS, 20 MIN TO CONSUME FUEL AND THEN IT WAS LANDED SUCCESSFULLY. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE WHEEL BEAD FLANGE (RIM) OF THE LEFT OUTBOARD WHEEL, PN 2601571-1, HAD FAILED FROM FATIGUE. THE CRACK ORIGINATED AT THE INSIDE DIAMETER OF THE RIM IN AN AREA OF LOCALIZED CORROSION PITTING. THE LEFT OUTBOARD TIRE HAD COME OFF, AND DURING LANDING, THE LEFT INBOARD WHEEL WAS BADLY DAMAGED. ALSO, THERE WAS MINOR DAMAGE AND SCUFF MARKS IN THE VICINITY OF THE LEFT MAIN GEAR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN82IA154
- Event ID
- 20020917X03240
- Case number
- DEN82IA154
- 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 1982-08-06.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 8b03f85891262aa4561f70a3ff93f1b52b533fe78aabf95214ddd3748ed63c56; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:07:35.569Z.