NTSB CAROL · Event
Event SEA90IA161
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE MALFUNCTION OF THE STARTER CONTROL VALVE.
Factual narrative
AT THE BEGINNING OF A FLIGHT, JUST AFTER TAKEOFF, THE FIRE WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATED FOR THE NUMBER 3 ENGINE. THE FLIGHT CREW PERFORMED THE APPROPRIATE EMERGENCY PROCEDURES AND RETURNED FOR LANDING. AFTER LANDING, FIRE CREWS EXTINGUISHED THE STILL BURNING FIRE THAT WAS CONFINED TO THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT. INSPECTION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THAT THE STARTER EXPERIENCED AN INFLIGHT FAILURE. THE STARTER CONTROL VALVE WAS EXAMINED AND FOUND TO OPERATE NORMALLY AT THE TIME OF THE INSPECTION. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1990_SEA90IA161.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
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data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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