FlarePathAir-accident investigation intelligence
Investigation brief · generated 2026-10-09 · source: NTSB public docket and accident database

MCDONNELL DOUGLAS DC 9 83(MD-83) — Alexandria, LA, USA, 2018-04-20

NTSB number
DCA18FA144
Operator
Caribbean Sun Airlines Inc
Registration
N807WA
Highest injury
No injury
Regulation
Part 121
Damage
Substantial
Cohort
Part 121 airline
Recorder data
Tier 1 — decoded recorder tables
Every sentence below is taken directly from NTSB records — the accident database, the docket's recorder reports and the Board's findings — with its source noted. Nothing is paraphrased or inferred.

NTSB summary

The airplane suffered a right main landing gear collapse during landing at the destination airport. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right lower wing skin when it contacted the runway after the landing gear collapse. The crew stopped the airplane on the runway and an emergency evacuation was performed through three of the four doors on the airplane. The escape slide at the left forward door did not deploy or inflate due to the depletion of the gas charge in the reservoir. The reservoir depleted due to a leak in the valve assembly and was not caught during multiple inspections since installation of the slide assembly in the airplane. The landing gear cylinder fractured under normal landing loads due to the presence of a fatigue crack on the forward side of the cylinder in an area subject to an AD inspection for cracks. The most recent AD inspection of the cylinder was performed 218 landings prior when the fatigue crack was large enough to be detectable. A previous AD inspection performed 497 landings prior to the accident also did not detect the crack that would have been marginally detectable at the time.
Verbatim, NTSB aviation accident database (narratives.narr_accf).

Probable cause

the failure of the right main landing gear under normal loads due to fatigue cracking in an area subject to an FAA Airworthiness Directive that was not adequately inspected.
Verbatim, NTSB determination.

Flight data recorder

Boeing MD-83 · N807WA — 4,618 samples, 21 parameters, 14:14:45.0 to 14:17:14.0.

ParameterMaxatMinatFinalat
Pressure altitude ft846.014:14:45.1-286.014:16:06.1-212.014:17:13.1
Airspeed kts157.014:15:49.30.014:16:49.30.014:17:13.3
Vertical acceleration g1.714:16:07.40.714:16:06.41.014:17:13.9
Magnetic heading deg141.014:16:30.0131.114:16:12.0137.114:17:13.0
Computed from the docket's tabular attachment; times as recorded (local or SRN as published).

Sequence of events (FDR factual report)

TimeEventPage
Not specified (no discrete sequence of events narrative provided)No sequence of events narrative was included in this factual report; report contains recorder description, time correlation methodology, and parameter list only2
Extracted by claude-sonnet-5; 1 of 1 stated events verified against the raw recorder data.

Recorder documents in the docket

GroupTitlePagesType
performanceAIRPLANE PERFORMANCE STUDY4pdf
fdrFLIGHT DATA RECORDER SPECIALIST'S FACTUAL REPORT7pdf
fdrFLIGHT DATA RECORDER SPECIALIST'S FACTUAL REPORT - ATTACHMENT 1TABULAR DATAcsv
fdrFLIGHT DATA RECORDER SPECIALIST'S FACTUAL REPORT - ATTACHMENT 2 TABULAR DATAcsv
fdrFLIGHT DATA RECORDER SPECIALIST'S FACTUAL REPORT - ATTACHMENT 3 TABULAR DATAcsv

Docket: data.ntsb.gov/Docket/?NTSBNumber=DCA18FA144. This brief is an analytical aid assembled from public records; it is not an investigative finding.