Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-33F · Loss of control following cargo door failure
From Lackland Air Force Base (FWH) to Tinker Air Force Base (TIK)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA89MA035
- 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
- Event fatalities
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 2
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-33F
- Flight
- 4U17
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell 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
- N931F
- Operator
- Evergreen International Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lackland Air Force Base (FWH)To Tinker Air Force Base (TIK), Oklahoma City, OK
- 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
- Prior to flight
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17 (4U17/EIA17) was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 cargo flight operated by Evergreen International Airlines on behalf of the Air Force Logair program. On March 18, 1989, the flight's planned route was scheduled to take it from Kelly Air Force Base (outside San Antonio, Texas) to Tinker Air Force Base (outside of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), with a stop at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas. The two pilots were the only occupants on board. Shortly after taking off from Carswell, the aircraft's main cargo door opened, the crew lost control of the aircraft, and it subsequently crashed while attempting an emergency landing, killing both pilots.
Accident
Flight 17 began its takeoff roll from runway 17 at 02:09:13, and lifted off at 02:09:46. At 02:09:49, three seconds after rotation, the main cargo door partially opened, which was indicated by the CVR recording a sudden increase in background noise. The ground proximity warning system (GPWS) activated, sounding a "whoop whoop terrain" four times. First officer Johnston declared an emergency to air traffic control (ATC). The controller asked the crew the nature of the emergency, and first officer Johnston replied, "okay we got a cargo door open." After ATC asked Flight 17 to report on when they were on the downward leg of their emergency final approach, the flight crew developed problems with communication. The flight climbed to 2,500 ft and then began a right turn back towards Carswell. During the downwind leg, the main cargo door completely opened, causing the aircraft to yaw and roll uncontrollably. The aircraft then banked to the left, inverted, and crashed into a pasture near Saginaw. The aircraft exploded on impact, killing both pilots.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
During the investigation by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), it was discovered that First Officer Johnston did not fully close the cargo door; he held the control valve handle in the closed position for an inadequate period of time. It was not immediately evident that the door was improperly closed because the locked-and-latched indicator labels were incorrectly applied, and the position of the torque tube drive socket fitting—used to double-check that the door was latched—was difficult to see at night because the fitting was a similar shade of green as the aircraft. Additionally, a design flaw in the cargo door warning light circuit caused the door-open warning light in the cockpit not to illuminate. The NTSB found that the door lockpin switch in N931F was damaged and corroded, and the warning light circuit was designed in such a way that if the switch failed, the warning light would stop working. McDonnell Douglas (MDD) had redesigned the circuit to render it fail-safe and had issued a service bulletin in 1976, but the modification was not mandatory, and the NTSB faulted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for not issuing an airworthiness directive (AD) mandating that the improved circuit be installed in all DC-9s with cargo doors.
The NTSB concluded that the accident was caused by the main cargo door having opened, and the subsequent loss of control of the aircraft. The reason for the loss of control alone could not be determined because the simulator and wind tunnel tests were unable to verify aerodynamic movements caused by the cargo door separation and captain McCall's attempt to correct them. Evergreen International's inadequate procedures for securing the cargo door, the failure of MD to provide emergency procedures for cargo doors opening mid-flight, and the failure of the FAA to issue an AD for the warning light circuit were contributing factors in the accident.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17” (revision 1374309449, 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
AS THE ACFT ROTATED FOR TKOF, THE CARGO DOOR (CD) OPENED. THE CREW CONTD TKOF & TURNED TO A DWNWND LEG TO LND ON RWY 17.THEY ANSWERED TWR INSTRNS TO RPRT 'BASE.' THIS WAS THE LAST TMTN THEY RCVD, THO THEY TRIED SVRL TIMES TO CTC TWR OR APCH CTL. AS THE ACFT TURNED ON BASE LEG (WITH A TAIL WND AT TFC PATTERN ALT), RADAR DATA INDCD ACFT WOULD CROSS THE RWYCENTERLINE. RADAR CTC WAS THEN LOST; THE ACFT CRASHED IN A STEEP DSCNT. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THAT BFR FLT, THE 1ST OFFICERMISINTERPRETED THE EXTERNAL LOCKPIN MANUAL CTL HANDLE PSN TO MEAN THE CD WAS LOCKED (AS A RESULT OF INCORRECT MARKINGS).ALSO, THERE WAS A MALFUNCTION OF A CD OPEN WARNING LGT SW, PREVENTING OPN OF THE WARNING LGT. ADDITIONALLY, SVRL SVC BULLETINS (SB'S) CONCERNING THE CD HAD NOT BEEN COMPLIED WITH. THESE SB'S WOULD HAVE PROVIDED AN EXTRA SAFETY FEATURE OF THE CD WARNING LGT SYS, A DOOR VENTING SYS & A LOCKPIN VIEWING WINDOW FOR THE DOOR. THERE WAS NO EMERG PROC OR SPECIFIC GUIDANCE TO AID DC-9 CREWS FOR THIS SITUATION, THOUGH SVRL CD OPENINGS HAD OCCURRED. (SEE: NTSB/AAR-90/02)
Probable cause
THE LOSS OF CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS FOLLOWING THE INFLIGHT OPENING OF THE IMPROPERLY LATCHED CARGO DOOR. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: INADEQUATE PROCEDURES USED BY EVERGREEN AIRLINES AND APPROVED BY THE FAA FOR PREFLIGHT VERIFICATION OF CARGO DOOR SECURITY, EVERGREEN'S FAILURE TO MARK PROPERLY THE AIRPLANE'S EXTERNAL CARGO DOOR LOCKPIN MANUAL CONTROL HANDLE, AND THE FAILURE OF MCDONNELL DOUGLAS TO PROVIDE FLIGHTCREW GUIDANCE AND EMERGENCY PROCEDURES FOR AN INFLIGHT OPENING OF THE CARGO DOOR. ALSO CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE FAILURE OF THE FAA TO MANDATE MODIFICATION TO THE DOOR-OPEN WARNING SYSTEM FOR DC-9 CARGO-CONFIGURED AIRPLANES, GIVEN THE PREVIOUS KNOWN OCCURRENCES OF INFLIGHT DOOR OPENINGS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17
- Revision
- 1374309449 · 2026-09-11 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q86733032
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA89MA035
- Event ID
- 20001213X27869
- Case number
- DCA89MA035
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17" (page 66184183, revision 1374309449); merged with NTSB case DCA89MA035 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record DCA89MA035: NTSB API eventDate, eventTimeUtc and eventTimeUtcOffsetHours (local date)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record DCA89MA035
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record DCA89MA035: 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 DCA89MA035: operated under Part 121: Air Carrier
- Fatalities
- NTSB record DCA89MA035: NTSB API totalFatal
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record DCA89MA035: NTSB API ongroundFatal
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17" and NTSB case DCA89MA035, 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: 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.