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Accidents · NTSB ENG10IA016 · Final report

Douglas DC8 incident near Cincinnati (Cvg), Ohio, January 7, 2010

On January 7, 2010, a Douglas DC8, registered N803DH, suffered minor damage in an incident during pushback/tow (engine not oper) near Cincinnati (Cvg), Ohio (Cincinnati International Airpo airport). It was flown under scheduled airline rules (Part 121). No one was hurt.

The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged

Failure of the NLG cylinder occurred by intergranular rupture; coincidental to a chrome plating crack. The failure origin occurred along the inner surface of the cylinder and then propagated by stress corrosion cracking to the outer surface. A secondary crack with the same features as the primary crack was found diagonal to the primary crack. Both cracks initiated by intergranular cracking due to grinding burns caused by abusive grinding and propagated by stress corrosion cracking. Hydrogen embrittlement did not contribute to the intergranular cracking.

Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 12, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.

What the record shows

Date
January 7, 2010 · cases in 2010
Place
Cincinnati (Cvg), Ohio · Cincinnati International Airpo · cases near this airport · map
Type
Incident
Injuries
No one was hurt.
Weather
not recorded
Aircraft
Douglas DC8 73F · all DC8s on the register
Registration
N803DH · registry record · serial 46123
Damage
Minor damage
Flight
Flight · scheduled airline rules (Part 121)

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

On January 7, 2010 Astar Air Cargo reported that during of a DC-8-73 hydraulic fluid leaking from a small crack at the upper end of the nose landing gear (NLG) cylinder. The following day, during taxi to the maintenance hangar, a loud bang was heard after a turn. Further inspection revealed that the NLG cylinder had fractured. The NLG was overhauled in April 2007 by AAR Landing Gear Services (LGS) in Miami Florida. The NLG was installed on the incident airplane on January 5, 2010 and had accumulated one ground air ground (GAG) cycle prior to the failure. The NLG assembly was removed and replaced and the failed cylinder was submitted to the Boeing Huntington Beach Failure Analysis Laboratory for failure analysis. At the time of the incident it was reported that the airplane had accumulated 86,911 flight hours and 32,212 cycles. The NLG cylinder failed due to intergranular (IG) cracking at the inner surface of the cylinder coincidental to a chrome plating crack, then propagated by stress corrosion cracking. The plating crack was determined to be cleavage fracture and could have occurred during the grinding of the chrome plating to size. The fracture surfaces of the primary and secondary crack, each exhibited a combination of dark gray and orange-brown discoloration that extended to 0.95 and 0.85 inches, respectively, and towards the outer surface of the cylinder. A short distance from the outer surface of the cylinder, there was no observable discoloration on the fracture surface of the primary crack. The discoloration indicated that the fracture occurred over an unknown period of time. Etch inspection of the inner surface of the cylinder revealed evidence of circumferential grinding burns. Light circumferential scratches were also observed however their origin could not be determined.

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.

The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English

What happened, in order

  1. Aircraft inspection event during standing
  2. Aircraft inspection event during standing (engine(s) not oper)
  3. Aircraft structural failure during pushback/tow (engine not oper) defining event

The NTSB's findings

The aircraft

  • Airframe total time: 87,107 hours
  • Last inspection: continuous airworthiness programme, January 2, 2010; 2 hours since
  • Maximum gross weight: 355,000 lb
  • Landing gear: retractable
  • Engine 1: Cfm International CFM56/2C1 (turbofan); 0 hours total
  • Engine 2: Cfm International CFM56/2C1 (turbofan); 0 hours total
  • Engine 3: Cfm International CFM56/2C1 (turbofan); 0 hours total
  • Engine 4: Cfm International CFM56/2C1 (turbofan); 0 hours total
  • Operator: Astar Air Cargo INC

The flight

  • Departed from: MIA
  • Destination: CVG Cincinnati OH
  • Flight plan: none

Weather at the time

  • Temperature: 0°F (-18°C), dew point 0°F (-18°C)

Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report

2 documents, released by the NTSB on April 12, 2011. View them here, or download them; the NTSB redacts some personal details before release, and this site shows the NTSB's own titles rather than its file names.

#DocumentWhat it is
1 Structures 7 - Boeing Fracture Analysis Report PDF, 19 pages View Download
2 Structures 7 - Aar Landing Gear Services Engineering Report PDF, 14 pages View Download

The same docket at the NTSB · documents without a copy here are fetched from the NTSB when you open them.

Connections how this case links to the rest of the register

Aircraft
Place
Analytics

The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/accident/ENG10IA016.json.

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Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text does not name anyone involved, its policy at this time. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.