NTSB on Obama plane landing
Posted: Thursday, July 10, 2008 12:32 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC’s Jay Blackman and Domenico Montanaro
The National Transportation Safety Board released a report on the Obama plane’s unscheduled landing earlier this week “in which the tail cone evacuation slide deployed in-flight.”
“Examination of the hardware did not reveal any evidence of missing components, nor any evidence of tampering,” the report said, in part.
PHOTOS: Deployed tail cone evacuation slide from Obama's plane; Undeployed tail cone evacuation slide as installed on another aircraft.
Here’s the full report with photos:
Preliminary findings reveal that the slide was partially inflated and the inflation bottle was empty. Examination of the hardware did not reveal any evidence of missing components, nor any evidence of tampering. The slide and hardware were removed from the aircraft for examination. There was no evidence of any punctures in the slide; however, there were marks consistent with rubbing of elevator control cables. Additional evidence was found to indicate that a catwalk railing was broken and impinged upon elevator control cables. The slide and hardware will be sent to the manufacturer for detailed examinations supervised by the NTSB.
The flight recorders have been removed and are en route to NTSB headquarters for download and analysis. Flight crew statements indicate that the crew did not hear the slide deploy in flight nor did a mechanic who was seated in the rear of the airplane. The flight crew confirmed that they detected elevator control stiffness during the initial level off after departure from Chicago Midway Airport.
Maintenance records have been secured for further examination.
Research has been initiated into the certification of the slide, its service history, and its design interface with the airplane.
The NTSB completed the on scene phase of the investigation yesterday.
