Eastwind Airlines Flight 517
Boeing B-737-201 · Uncommanded rudder hardover
From Trenton Mercer Airport (RIC) to Richmond International Airport (RIC)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA96IA061
- 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
- Event fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 53
- Survivors
- 53
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- 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 B-737-201
- Flight
- W9517
- 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
- N221US
- Operator
- Eastwind Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Trenton Mercer Airport (RIC), VATo Richmond International Airport (RIC)
- 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
- Approach
- 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
- Flightcrew › Aircraft control, conflicting
- Hydraulic system › Jammed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
From the Wikipedia article
On June 9, 1996, while operating a passenger flight from Trenton, New Jersey, to Richmond, Virginia, the crew of Eastwind Airlines Flight 517 temporarily lost control of their Boeing 737-200 because of a rudder malfunction. The crew were able to regain control and land the aircraft successfully. All 53 occupants on board the 737-200 survived with no injuries.
Flight 517 was instrumental in resolving the cause of Boeing 737 rudder issues that had caused two previous fatal crashes because it was the first flight to experience such rudder issues and land safely, allowing investigators to interview the pilots about their experience and to study the aircraft.
Background
On March 3, 1991, United Airlines Flight 585, a Boeing 737-200, rolled to the right and went into a vertical dive while attempting to land in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The resulting crash killed all 25 people on board. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted a thorough investigation. Although a rudder problem was suspected, the aircraft's rudder components could not be tested or fully evaluated because they were severely damaged in the crash. As a result, the NTSB was unable to conclusively identify the cause of the crash.
On September 8, 1994, USAir Flight 427, a Boeing 737-300, abruptly rolled to the left while on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport in an accident very similar to that of Flight 585. The resulting crash killed all 132 people on board. The NTSB's subsequent investigation persisted throughout the late 1990s.
Flight information
Flight 517 was a scheduled Eastwind Airlines passenger flight from Trenton-Mercer Airport in Trenton, New Jersey, to Richmond International Airport in Richmond, Virginia. The flight was operated using a Boeing 737-200 (registration number N221US). On June 9, 1996, Flight 517 was operated by Captain Brian Bishop and First Officer Spencer Griffin. A total of 53 people were on board.
Incident
Flight 517 departed Trenton without incident and encountered no turbulence or unusual weather en route to Richmond. While on approach to Richmond International Airport, at an altitude of about 5000 ft MSL, the captain felt a brief "kick" or "bump" on the right rudder pedal. Around the same time, a flight attendant at the rear of the plane heard a thumping noise underneath her. As the plane continued to descend through 4000 ft, the captain suddenly experienced a loss of rudder control and the plane rolled sharply to the right.
Attempting to regain control, the captain tried to apply full left rudder, but the rudder controls were stiff and did not respond to his commands. He applied left aileron and increased power to the right engine to try to stop the roll. The airplane temporarily stabilized, but then it rolled to the right again. The crew performed their emergency checklist and attempted to regain control of the aircraft, and after several seconds they abruptly regained control. The airplane operated normally for the remaining duration of the flight.
No damage occurred to the aircraft as a result of the incident. No passengers or crew aboard Flight 517 were injured.
Investigation and cause
Investigation and aftermath
The NTSB investigated the incident, with a particular focus on determining whether the events of Flight 517 were related to previous Boeing 737 crashes.
During the investigation, the NTSB found that prior to the June 9 incident, flight crews had reported a series of rudder-related events on the incident aircraft, including abnormal "bumps" on the rudder pedals and uncommanded movement of the rudder.
Investigators conducted interviews with the pilots of Flight 517, and removed rudder components from the aircraft for examination, which helped to establish the cause of the previous crashes of United Airlines Flight 585 and USAir Flight 427. The NTSB determined that all three incidents could be explained only by pilot error or a malfunction of the rudder system, and, based partly on post-accident interviews with the Flight 517 pilots, concluded that rudder malfunctions were likely to have caused all three incidents.
The NTSB also determined that, unlike the United or USAir accidents, the rudder problem on Flight 517 occurred earlier in the landing process and at a higher speed, which increased airflow over the other control surfaces of the aircraft, allowing the pilots to overcome the rudder-induced roll.
N221US returned to service with Eastwind Airlines and continued to operate for them until the airline ceased operations in 1999. On July 17, 1996, N221US was operating as Eastwind Airlines Flight 507 to Trenton-Mercer Airport, when the flight crew witnessed the explosion and crash of TWA Flight 800 directly in front of them. Flight 507's crew were the first to report the accident to air traffic control. The aircraft was placed into storage at Greenwood–Leflore Airport in 1999, and was scrapped in 2000.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Eastwind Airlines Flight 517” (revision 1365862426, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
The Boeing 737-200 experienced a yaw/roll upset while operating at an airspeed of about 250 knots and an altitude of about 4,000 feet msl in visual flight rules (VFR) conditions. The pilots were able to regain control of the airplane and land at the destination airport without further incident. As a result of previous Boeing 737 rudder anomalies, including the fatal accident involving USAir flight 427, a Boeing 737-300, which entered an uncontrolled descent and impacted terrain near Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, on September 8, 1994, Safety Board investigators initiated an investigation into this incident. Investigators conducted detailed examinations of pertinent rudder control components, reviewed flight test data, performed a computer simulation, and completed an analysis of human performance data. As a result, the Safety Board concluded that the rudder reversed, moving to its right blowdown limit when the captain commanded left rudder, consistent with a jam of the main rudder power control unit servo valve secondary slide to the servo valve housing offset from its neutral position and overtravel of the primary slide. The complete report of this incident investigation, including all analyses, is contained in the final report of the USAir flight 427 investigation which can be found on the NTSB web site at the following link: http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/1999/AAR9901.pdf
Probable cause
The yaw/roll upset of the airplane resulting from the movement of the rudder surface to its blowdown limit. The rudder surface most likely deflected in a direction opposite to that commanded by the pilots as a result of a jam of the main rudder power control unit servo valve secondary slide to the servo valve housing offset from its neutral position and overtravel of the primary slide.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: Eastwind Airlines Flight 517
- Article
- Eastwind Airlines Flight 517
- Revision
- 1365862426 · 2026-07-24 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q2972788
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA96IA061
- Event ID
- 20001208X05950
- Case number
- DCA96IA061
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Eastwind Airlines Flight 517" (page 17319538, revision 1365862426); merged with NTSB case DCA96IA061 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record DCA96IA061: NTSB narrative opening date, consistent with the API date and time (local date)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record DCA96IA061
- Map position
- NTSB record DCA96IA061: events decimal coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record DCA96IA061: aircraft; gaps from Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- NTSB record DCA96IA061: operated under Part 121: Air Carrier
- Fatalities
- NTSB record DCA96IA061: NTSB API totalFatal
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record DCA96IA061: NTSB API ongroundFatal
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Eastwind Airlines Flight 517" and NTSB case DCA96IA061, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this US event the NTSB's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status, damage. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1996-06-10.