Investigation Report – Nationwide 737-200 Accident at CPL

Nationwide Airlines and South African Civil Aviation Authority published details about the investigation of the Nationwide Boeing 737-200, flight CE723, accident at Cape Town. On 7th November flight CE723 lost engine number 2 during departure from Cape Town. See: 737-200 Looses Engine at CPT (Pictures)

As a result of this incident, the South African Civil Aviation Authority released an Airworthiness Directive which required the inspection of certain components of the engine mounts to the aircraft. Effectively, this grounded all Boeing 737-200 aircraft operated in South Africa until compliance with the Airworthiness Directive could be accomplished.

It has been determined that during the take off roll an object which is yet to be defined was ingested into the engine which caused a catastrophic engine failure. The subsequent forces experienced by the engine supporting structure caused this to fail and for the number two engine to detach from the wing. The engine-to-wing supporting structure is designed to release the engine when extreme forces are applied to prevent any structural damage to the wing that may impair the aircrafts ability to fly.

The engine on this particular aircraft, a Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15, was fitted in March 2005 after a major overhaul by an approved Federal Aviation Authority Facility in the USA and has since accumulated 3,806 hours. These engines typically achieve 10,000 hrs between major overhauls.

SERIES OF EVENTS

* On Friday evening a total of 3 aircraft were inspected and released by the CAA back into service.
* During the course of Saturday 10th November 7 additional aircraft were inspected and released by the CAA back into service.
* During the course of Sunday 11th November the last of Nationwide Airlines’ B737-200s was inspected and released by the CAA back into service.
* Nationwide Airlines has proposed more stringent inspections of the Boeing 737-200 fleet of aircraft than originally required by the Civil Aviation Authority. Such inspections require more than twenty four hours per aircraft to complete and are therefore ongoing.
* On Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th November, the Maintenance Organization operated by Nationwide Airlines underwent further inspection by the Civil Aviation Authority as part of the routine incident investigation. The inspection was completed without any findings of non-conformance or non-compliance.

Source: Nationwide Airlines

2 thoughts on “Investigation Report – Nationwide 737-200 Accident at CPL”

  1. Have found this report of the incident at Cape Town 7 November when a Nationwide 737 lost it’s engine. I was on this flight and had the terrifying experience of seeing the hole in the wing as the pilot returned successfully to Cape Town. Would like a copy of the report(s) for my “memoirs” but unable to print out. Do not know if this is a system error or human error on my part but can you help me please? Would be very grateful if anything could be sent by email

    Happy Christmas

    Janet Key