Mcdonnell Douglas DC-9-32 incident near Houston, Texas, March 18, 1997
On March 18, 1997 at about 7:32 pm local time, a Mcdonnell Douglas DC-9-32, registered N12508, suffered minor damage in an incident near Houston, Texas (Houston Intercontinental airport). It was a flight of an unrecorded kind under scheduled airline rules (Part 121). No one was hurt; 101 people were on board or involved. The weather was instrument conditions (cloud, fog or low visibility).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The failure of company maintenance personnel to perform a proper inspection of the combustion chamber outer case, thus allowing a detectable crack to grow to a length at which the case ruptured.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- March 18, 1997 · about 7:32 pm local time
- Place
- Houston, Texas · Houston Intercontinental · map
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 101 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- instrument conditions (cloud, fog or low visibility)
- Aircraft
- Mcdonnell Douglas DC-9-32 · all DC-9-32s on the register
- Registration
- N12508 · no longer on the register · serial 47797
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Flight of an unrecorded kind · scheduled airline rules (Part 121)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
An uncontained failure of the right engine occurred as the airplane lifted off the runway and began its initial takeoff climb. The airplane returned to the departure airport for a single-engine landing, and emergency crews extinguished a fire confined to the right engine's hot section. The uncontained failure resulted from a fatigue crack in the combustion chamber outer case at the forward drain boss weld. Based on an analysis of fatigue striation measurements, a detectable crack existed at the forward drain boss weld when an on wing ultrasonic inspection of the boss was performed by company maintenance personnel in December 1995.
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
Pilot
- Certificate: airline transport pilot, flight instructor, commercial pilot
- Ratings: multi-engine land; single-engine land; instructor: airplane single-engine; instrument: airplane
- Flight time: 26,000 hours in all; 6,000 in this make and model; 240 in the last 90 days; 70 in the last 30 days; 19,000 as pilot in command
- Medical certificate: Class 1 (valid medical--w/ waivers/lim.)
- Seat: left
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 48,243 hours
- Last inspection: continuous airworthiness programme, January 12, 1997; 84 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 110,000 lb
- Seats: 109
- Landing gear: retractable
- Engine: P&W JT8D-15 (turbofan); 0 hours total
- Fire on the ground
- Operator: Continental Airlines
The flight
- Departed from: IAH at 7:30 pm
- Destination: IND Indianapolis IN
- Flight plan: IFR
- Runway 14L, 11,071 ft by 150 ft
- A second pilot was aboard
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: at 5 knots
- Visibility: 2 statute miles
- Sky: broken clouds at 800 ft; scat at 500 ft
- Temperature: 72°F (22°C), dew point 70°F (21°C)
- Altimeter: 30.00 inHg
- Observation at 7:40 pm from IAH
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 5 | |||
| Passengers | 96 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
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 never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.