Fatigue Crack on Propeller Leads to Crash That Kills 8

Eight people died when Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 crashed near Carrollton, Georgia on August 21, 1995. The Embraer EMB 120 aircraft, carrying 29 people, was traveling from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Gulfport, Mississippi, when a blade in the left engine propeller suddenly separated. 

The aircraft, rapidly losing altitude, attempted an emergency landing in a field in Carroll County.  The aircraft slammed through trees before crashing into the field and bursting into flames.  Eight people received fatal injuries, 13 were severely injured and eight others survived with minor injuries.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the fatal crash.  NTSB investigators found that the left propellor had separated at about 18,000 feet, distorting the left engine.  This caused excessive drag and a loss of wing lift, which ultimately led to the aircraft losing altitude and crashing.  Investigators then determined that the propeller blade had a fatigue crack caused by corrosion.  This crack, the NTSB concluded, had caused the crash. 

According to the NTSB, two previous failures of the same type of propeller had occurred in the past, which prompted an inspection procedure developed and carried out by a Hamilton Standard facility.  The blade involved in this particular accident was one of 490 recalled blades sent to Hamilton Standard for further evaluation and possible repair. Tragically, technicians did not properly inspect the blade and overlooked the fatigue crack.

The NTSB criticized Hamilton Standard for failing to discover the corrosion on the doomed propeller.  In their final accident report, the NTSB blamed the accident on Hamilton Standard’s “inadequate and ineffective corporate inspection and repair techniques, training, documentation and communications.”  Also, the NTSB said, both Hamilton Standard’s and the FAA’s failure to require the adequate inspection of the propellers contributed to the accident.

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