Short Brothers SD3-60 N263GA

Summary

On 9 May 1997 at about 17:06 local time, a Short Brothers SD3-60 registered N263GA, operated by Gulfstream Int'l Airlines, was involved in an incident near Miami, Florida, United States. 31 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 May 1997 at 17:06

Classification

Incident

Location

Miami, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Miami International (MIA)

Coordinates

25.8201, -80.2994

Aircraft

Short Brothers SD3-60

Registration

N263GA

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Gulfstream Int'l Airlines

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Orlando

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA97IA160

Nobody was injured.

fatigue failure of a segment of the elevator trim cable system. A factor relating to the incident was: inadequate procedure for inspection of the cable system by the airplane manufacturer.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the initial climb after takeoff, an elevator trim cable failure occurred at a pulley at fuselage station 275. The flight remained airborne to burn fuel, then landed uneventfully. Metallurgical examination of the failed cable revealed that 42 of the 49 individual wires failed due to fatigue. The elevator trim cable segments were only required to be visually inspected every 4,800 hours or 48 months. The trim cable segments were last inspected 22 months earlier and had accumulated 2,456.9 hours and 2,290 cycles since inspection. The failed cable had accumulated a total time of 10,562.3 hours and 14,525 cycles at the time of the failure.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.