Douglas DC-9-14 N100ME

Summary

On 6 September 1985 at about 20:21 local time, a Douglas DC-9-14 registered N100ME was involved in an accident near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. 31 people were on board and 31 died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

6 September 1985 at 20:21

Classification

Accident

Location

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

Nearest airport

General Mitchell Field (MKE)

Coordinates

43.0195, -87.9293

Aircraft

Douglas DC-9-14

Registration

N100ME

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Atlanta

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA85AA036

31 people died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The Safety Board's full report on this investigation is provided as Aviation Accident Report number AAR-87/01. To obtain a copy of this report, or to view the executive summary online, please see the Web site at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm DRG TAKEOFF, THE ACFT (MIDWEST EXPRESS FLT 105) WAS CLIMBING THRU ABOUT 450' AGL WHEN THERE WAS A LOUD NOISE AS THE RGT ENG FAILED. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE ACFT ENTERED A STEEP DSCNT & CRASHED IN AN APRX 90 DEG, RGT WING LOW, ATTITUDE. AN INV REVEALED THAT THE 9TH TO 10TH STAGE, HI PRESSURE COMPRESSOR SPACER IN THE RGT ENG HAD FAILED. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THEFAILURE WAS PRECIPITATED BY A FATIGUE CRACK IN 1 OF THE 2 KNIFE EDGES ON THE SPACER. INITIALLY, CORRECT (LEFT) RUDDER RESPONSE WAS USED TO COMPENSATE FOR THE LOSS OF POWER IN THE RGT ENG, BUT ABOUT 4 TO 5 SEC LATER, RGT RUDDER DEFLECTION OCCURRED. APRX 10 SEC AFTER THE RGT ENG FAILED, THE ACFT STALLED & WENT OUT OF CONTROL. ALSO, ABOUT 1.5 SEC AFTER THE INITIAL RGT ENG FAILURE, THERE WAS A REDUCTION IN THE LEFT ENG'S RPM, & SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ENG COMPRESSOR STALLED AFTER THE ACFT WENT OUT OF CONTROL & WAS DSCNDG IN AN UNUSUAL ATTITUDE. HOWEVER, THE REDUCTION OF POWER IN THE LEFT ENG WAS NOT CONSIDERED SIGNIFICANT TO THE LOSS OF CONTROL. NEITHER PLT VERBALLY IDENTIFIED THE EMERG CONDITION DRG THE SEQUENCE.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.