Date:	Thursday 8 June 1995
Time:	19:08
Type:	McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32
Owner/operator:	ValuJet Airlines
Registration:	N908VJ
MSN:	47321/455
Year of manufacture:	1969
Total airframe hrs:	630 hours
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7B
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 62
Aircraft damage:	Substantial, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	Atlanta-William B. Hartsfield International Airport, GA (ATL) -   United States of America
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Atlanta-William B. Hartsfield International Airport, GA (ATL/KATL)
Destination airport:	Miami International Airport, FL (MIA/KMIA)
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
At about 19:08 EDT Flight VJA 597 (Atlanta-Miami) took off from runway 27R. During the takeoff roll a loud bang was heard, and the crew of a following aircraft informed the ValuJet crew that they had an engine fire.
The takeoff was aborted immediately, but shrapnel form the uncontained engine failure penetrated the right engine main fuel line. A cabin fire erupted from the fuel that was sprayed out of the fuel line. The DC-9 was stopped on the runway, and the occupants evacuated through the forward doors and the over wing exits.
The engine failed due to a fatigue crack that had originated at a small corrosion pit on the 7th stage HP compressor disk. The corrosion had not been detected when the effected part had been inspected during overhaul by THY in 1991.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The failure of Turk Hava Yollari maintenance and inspection personnel to perform a proper inspection of a 7th stage high compressor disk, thus allowing the detectable crack to grow to a length at which the disk ruptured, under normal operating conditions, propelling engine fragments into the fuselage; the fragments severed the right engine main fuel line, which resulted in a fire that rapidly engulfed the cabin area. The lack of an adequate record-keeping system and the failure to use "process sheets" to document the step-by-step overhaul/inspection procedures contributed to the failure to detect the crack and, thus, to the accident."

Air Safety Week 17 July 1995 (p. 5, 6)
Aviation Week & Space Technology 17.07.95(35)
Flight International 26 July-1 August 1995 (11)
Uncontained Disk Failure in Right Engine of DC-9 During Initial Takeoff Run Results in Rejected Takeoff and Aircraft Evacuation (Flight Safety Foundation - Accident Prevention September 1996)
ICAO Adrep Summary 2/97 (#82)

photo (c) Werner Fischdick; Atlanta-William B. Hartsfield International Airport, GA (ATL); 07 October 1994

Date/time	Contributor	Updates