AN ACR LGT WAS FOUND TO HAVE A DAMAGED #8 SLAT DURING GND CHK AT BOS BY THE GND CREW. IT WENT UNNOTICED BY THE FLC AFTER AN INFLT ENCOUNTER WITH LOW LEVEL WINDSHEAR WHILE LNDG AT PBI. 3 LNDGS PRIOR TO TERMINATING THEIR FLT AT BOS.

Date: 1997-12 · Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|critical|inflight-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control|inflight-event-encounter-other-unknown

Synopsis

AN ACR LGT WAS FOUND TO HAVE A DAMAGED #8 SLAT DURING GND CHK AT BOS BY THE GND CREW. IT WENT UNNOTICED BY THE FLC AFTER AN INFLT ENCOUNTER WITH LOW LEVEL WINDSHEAR WHILE LNDG AT PBI. 3 LNDGS PRIOR TO TERMINATING THEIR FLT AT BOS.

Narrative

ON DEC/XA/97 WHEN REGISTERING AT OUR LAYOVER HOTEL IN BOSTON; I HAD A MESSAGE TO CALL DISPATCH. I WAS INFORMED THAT THE PUSHBACK CREW IN BOSTON FOUND DAMAGE TO THE #8 SLAT. MYSELF; FO; AND SO HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF ANY DAMAGE; EVEN AFTER REQUIRED POSTFLTS. FLT LEFT BOSTON FOR CANCUN AT XA00 WITH A SCHEDULED STOP AT PALM BEACH. UPON ARR AT PALM BEACH WE WERE VECTORED FOR AN ILS RWY 27R APCH. A TSTM MOVED OVER THE ARPT LOWERING VISIBILITY TO 1/2 MI. WE WERE VECTORED OFF THE APCH AND CLBED TO 4000 FT. AFTER A ROUGH RIDE WE WERE W OF ALL WX AND CONDITIONS BECAME VMC. WE WERE THEN VECTORED N AND TOLD THE STORM WAS MOVING ESE; AND THE W END OF THE ARPT WAS CLRING. THE RWY WAS SWITCHED TO RWY 9L WITH RPTED WINDS FROM N AT 5 KTS. WE WERE VECTORED AND CLRED FOR AN ILS RWY 9L APCH. AT 500 FT I CALLED RWY IN SIGHT AND APCH WAS CONTINUED. IN THE NEXT SEVERAL SECONDS WE ENCOUNTERED SOME WX PHENOMENA ASSOCIATED WITH THE STORM. AFTER SOME ABNORMAL PITCHING AND ROLLING; I PHYSICALLY TOOK CTL OF THE ACFT FROM THE FO AT APPROX 100 FT. WHEN I TOOK CTL THE ACFT WAS ROLLING ABNORMALLY DUE TO WX. I THEN LANDED THE ACFT. ABNORMAL ROLLING DID NOT OCCUR UNTIL THE FINAL LNDG PHASE. WITH 14000 PLUS HRS IN B727; I HAVE WITNESSED 2 OR 3 APCHS AND LNDGS MORE VIOLENT. THERE IS NO WAY THAT ANY OF US IN THE COCKPIT EVEN SUSPECTED THAT ANY DAMAGE OCCURRED; AND STILL FEEL THAT WAY. FLT REFUELED; CONTINUED TO CANCUN NORMALLY. FLT FLEW CANCUN TO BOSTON NORMALLY. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 388717: WE FLEW 2 ADDITIONAL LEGS THAT DAY. THE FE PERFORMED A WALKAROUND INSPECTION AT EACH STOP. AT NO TIME WERE ANY OF US AWARE OF; OR SUSPECTED ANY POSSIBLE DAMAGE TO THE ACFT.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.