The departure of an MD87 jet from the runway during takeoff in the Houston area in October 2021 was attributed to the error of the aircraft’s pilots, who failed to follow expected safety measures due to a lack of training. Despite the plane’s destruction, all 23 people on board survived, but two were seriously injured.
The NTSB, the agency responsible for investigating transportation accidents in the United States, states that the accident occurred because the MD87’s elevators were blocked due to strong and dynamic winds while the aircraft was parked and during takeoff couldn’t turn.
However, this condition is not new, but rather known, and is evidenced by two previous events in 1999 in Germany and in 2017 in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which culminated in an aborted takeoff and another runway overrun, respectively.
In the investigation, the NTSB mentions that the pilots were unaware that a visual confirmation of the elevators was required before the flight to check that the elevators were not stuck. The root cause was attributed to improper pilot training, as such verification is one of the requirements of Boeing, the model’s manufacturer.
The accident occurred on takeoff from Houston Executive Airport around 10 a.m. local time when the MD87 accelerated but did not respond to the movement of the pilot, who described feeling as if he was “stuck on the ground.”
The first officer ordered the takeoff to be aborted, but the jet entered grass, crossed a fence, a road, struck power lines and trees before stopping in a pasture, catching fire and destroying the aircraft.
Upon examining the elevators and reviewing the flight recorder data, it was discovered that both were stuck trailing edge down, blocking the surfaces and preventing the aircraft from turning.
The NTSB advises that pilots cannot detect a stall through preflight flight control procedures (moving the control stick) performed by MD87 pilots because the design of the elevator control system does not alter the feel and displacement of the stick column during taxi .
After the similar incident in Ypsilanti, Boeing issued an NTSBrecommended bulletin requesting MD80 series operators to update flight crew manuals with the requirement to visually confirm that the elevators are unblocked and on level Altitude with the surface of the aircraft are stabilizer.
The full report can be viewed on the NTSB site.
