A World Atlantic Airways McDonnell Douglas MD-83 on behalf of DirectAir, registration N807WA performing flight RPN-807 from Chicago O'Hare, IL to Alexandria,LA (USA) with 101 people on board, landed safely on Alexandria's runway 14 at 14:17L (19:17Z) and was in the roll out about 6000 feet (1830 meters) down the runway when the right hand main gear collapsed disabling the aircraft on the runway. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage.
The airport reported the aircraft was operating on behalf of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Runway 14/32 was closed over night.
The NTSB opened an investigation into the occurrence rated an accident.
On May 18th 2019 the NTSB released their preliminary report stating: "On April 20, 2018, at about 1420 central daylight time, a Caribbean Sun Airlines Inc., dba World Atlantic Airlines, MD83, N807WA, right main landing gear failed during the landing roll at Alexandria International Airport (KAEX), Alexandria, Louisiana. Due to the gear failure, the right wing dragged on the runway creating a friction fire which was quickly put out by the airport rescue and firefighting personnel. The airplane was substantially damaged and there were no injuries to the 101 passengers and crew aboard. The L1 emergency slide did not deploy during the evacuation."
On Jul 10th 2020 the NTSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the accident was:
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.
The NTSB summarized: "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."
Related NOTAMs:
AEX 04/054 AEX RWY 14/32 CLSD 1804202055-1804212100
AEX 04/054 AEX RWY 14/32 CLSD 1804202055-1804212100