McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 N600ME

Summary

On 22 March 1999 at about 01:45 local time, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 registered N600ME was involved in an incident near Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. 64 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

22 March 1999 at 01:45

Classification

Incident

Location

Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14

Registration

N600ME

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Newark → Milwaukee

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

CHI99IA115

Nobody was injured.

the frozen elevator control. Factors were the rain and the low temperatures.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

On two separate flights, the flight crews determined that the elevator would not respond to control input. During the first occurrence, the flight crew continued to fly the airplane using pitch trim and descended to a lower altitude where elevator control returned. During the second occurrence, the flight crew applied elevator backpressure until the elevator '...bump[ed} free and control was restored.' After the first occurrence, maintenance personnel found ice accretions in the elevator control bay of the vertical stabilizer. They also found debris obstructing the drain holes in this area. Maintenance personnel were unable to find any anomalies after the second occurrence. On both occasions, the airplane departed in rain showers with surface temperatures of 46 degrees (F) and 39 degrees (F) respectively.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.