LAX85IA206
1985-04-16 · LAS CRUCES, New Mexico, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport LRU
Aircraft involved
Factual narrative
WHILE CRUISING AT FLT LEVEL 350 IN CLEAR SMOOTH AIR, A LOUD NOISE WAS HEARD, ACCOMPANIED BY A SEVERE JOLT ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE CABIN, AS THE NUMBER 3 END SEPARATED FROM ITS MOUNTS. SUBSEQUENT INVESTIGATION DISCLOSED THAT THE FORWARD LAVATORY WAS LEAKING DEODORANT FLUID AND WATER. DEODORANT STAINS EXISTED ALONG THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE FUSELAGE, & WERE SUBSEQUENTLY IDENTIFIED ON THE NUMBER 3 ENGINE NOSE COWL & INLET NOSE CONE. ALL BUT 6 OF THE FIRST STAGE FAN BLADES WERE RECOVERED AT THE ENG IMPACT SITE, & THESE 6 BLADES WERE LOCATED WITHIN A 180 DEGREE SEGMENT OF THE FAN. LEAKAGE OF THE LAVATORY WASTE DRAIN VALVE WAS THE RESULT OF A DAMAGED 'O' RING SEAL. LEAKAGE OF THE DUMP VALVE WAS THE RESULT OF DISBONDING OF A RUBBER BOOT ON ITS SHAFT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1985_LAX85IA206.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Search this event elsewhere
External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.
- TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press
- NTSB CAROL Agency ↗
- NTSB Docket Agency ↗
- Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗
- Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗
- Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗
- AVweb Aviation press ↗
- Pilots of America Community ↗
- Reddit /r/flying Community ↗
- FlightAware Aviation press ↗
- AOPA accident database Aviation press ↗
- Google News News ↗
- DuckDuckGo News ↗