TWA Flight 841 (1979)
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- For the 1974 incident on the same flight number, see TWA Flight 841 (1974).
| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | April 4, 1979 |
| Type | Controversial |
| Site | Detroit, Michigan |
| Passengers | 82 |
| Crew | 7 |
| Injuries | 8 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Survivors | 89 (all) |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 727-31 |
| Operator | TWA |
| Tail number | N840TW |
On April 4, 1979, a Boeing 727-31 (tail number N840TW) operating as TWA Flight 841 took off from JFK International Airport, New York City en route to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. Over Saginaw, Michigan, while the plane was cruising at 39,000 feet, its #7 slat extended, initiating a sharp roll to the right. The roll continued despite the corrective measures taken by the autopilot and the human pilot. The aircraft went into a spiral dive, losing about 34,000 feet in 63 seconds. (For comparison, a normal rate of descent for an airliner would be 1800 feet per minute). During the course of the dive, the plane rolled through 360 degrees twice, and crossed the Mach limit for the 727 airframe. It was later estimated from the flight data recorder that the plane was momentarily supersonic. Control was regained at about 8,000 feet, following the #7 slat being torn off from the aircraft and symmetry of lift being re-established. The plane suffered substantial structural damage, but made an emergency landing at Detroit, Michigan without further trouble. No fatalities occurred among the 82 passengers and seven crew members. Eight passengers reported minor injuries relating to high G forces.
The NTSB investigated the incident and established after eliminating all individual and combined sources of mechanical failure, that the extension of the slats was due to the flight crew manipulating the flap/slat controls in an inappropriate manner.
The crew, Capt. Harvey "Hoot" Gibson, first officer Jess Kennedy, and flight engineer Garry Banks, denied that their actions had been the cause.
At no time prior to the incident did I take any action within the cockpit either intentionally or inadvertently, that would have caused the extension of the leading edge slats or trailing edge flaps. Nor did I observe any other crew member take any action within the cockpit, either intentional or inadvertent, which would have caused the extension.
The crew suggested instead that an actuator on the #7 slat had failed. The NTSB rejected this as improbable, but the crew claimed that such failures had happened on other 727s prior and subsequent to this incident.
The aircraft was repaired and returned to service in May 1979.
[edit] References
Stewart, Stanley [1989] (2002). Emergency: Crisis on the Flight Deck, 2nd edition, Airlife Publishing, pp. 150-176. ISBN 1-84037-393-8.
