United Airlines Flight 2860
| United Airlines Flight 2860 | |
|---|---|
,_United_Airlines_JP5956384.jpg) An identical DC-8 from United Airlines |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Controlled flight into terrain |
| place | Ed's Peak at Farmington , Davis County , Utah , United States
|
| date | 18th December 1977 |
| Fatalities | 3 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type |
Douglas DC-8F-54 "Jet Trader"
|
| operator |
United Airlines
|
| Mark |
N8047U
|
| Departure airport |
San Francisco International Airport , California , United States
|
| Stopover |
Salt Lake City International Airport , Utah , United States
|
| Destination airport |
O'Hare International Airport , Chicago , Illinois , United States
|
| crew | 3 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
On the domestic lines freight flight United Airlines flight 2860 (Flight number: UA2860 , call sign UNITED 2860 ) from San Francisco to Chicago on Salt Lake City was killed on 18 December 1977, a Douglas DC-8F-54 "Jet Trader" of United Airlines , when the pilots flew the machine into a mountain shortly before the planned stopover in Salt Lake City while flying from holding patterns. All three occupants of the machine were killed in the accident.
plane
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Douglas DC-8F-54 “Jet Trader”, which was eleven years and four and a half months old at the time of the accident. The machine was rolled out on August 1, 1966, the DC-8 had the serial number 45880 and it was the 275th machine of this type from ongoing production. The first delivery of this factory-configured DC-8 as a cargo machine to United Air Lines (since 1974: United Airlines ) took place on September 9, 1966, the machine was put into operation there with the aircraft registration number N8047U and the fleet number 2047 . The four-engine long-range narrow-body aircraft was equipped with four Turbojettriebwerken type Pratt & Whitney Jt3d-3B equipped. By the time of the accident, the machine had had a total operating performance of 29,832 operating hours.
crew
There was only a three-person crew on board the machine, consisting of a flight captain, first officer and second officer:
- The 49-year-old flight captain John R. Fender was hired on December 10, 1954 by United Air Lines. He had type ratings for the aircraft types Convair CV-240 , Convair CV-340 , Convair CV-440 , Douglas DC-6 , Douglas DC-7 , Douglas DC-8, SIAI-Marchetti S.210 and Boeing 737 . Fender had held the position of flight captain since June 27, 1967, and on April 4, 1973, he had qualified to drive the Douglas DC-8. He had 14,954 hours of flight experience, of which he had completed 4,148 hours in the cockpit of the Douglas DC-8.
- The 46-year-old First Officer Phillip E. Modesitt had been with United Air Lines since June 13, 1966. He also had a type rating for the Boeing 727 . Modesitt qualified for the Douglas DC-8 on April 5, 1977. He had 9,905 hours of flight experience, of which he had completed 366 hours with the Douglas DC-8.
- The 34-year-old second officer Steve H. Simpson began his employment with United Air Lines on April 7, 1969. He had a qualification as a flight engineer as well as a license to fly Learjet machines . Simpson had qualified for the Douglas DC-8 on March 5, 1977. He had 5,692 hours of flight experience, 419 of which he had acquired in Douglas DC-8s.
Flight plan
A domestic scheduled cargo flight was flown with the machine on behalf of the United States Postal Service , the cargo consisted of letters and parcels. It was a night flight that began on Saturday, December 17, 1977 at San Francisco International Airport . The first flight segment should lead to Salt Lake City International Airport , from where the second and final flight segment should be flown to O'Hare International Airport near Chicago after a loading and unloading process .
the accident
The machine took off on December 17, 1977 at 11:17 p.m. local time in Los Angeles. The stopover to be made in Salt Lake City was not served regularly and had only been added to the flight plan a few hours earlier. When the aircraft was on its approach to Salt Lake City at 1:11 a.m. after a flight time of less than an hour, the crew reported to air traffic control that they had an electrical problem and asked for clearance to fly on holding patterns to be able to contact the maintenance department of United Airlines. Approval was given and the machine began to fly on hold. During the following seven and a half minutes, the radio link between the aircraft and air traffic control was interrupted because the pilots were talking to the maintenance department on a different radio frequency during this time. The pilots flew into a mountainous area without being aware of it. The air traffic controller on duty noticed the awkward situation of the aircraft, but was unable to warn the pilots in time, who had set a different radio frequency to communicate with the technician. The pilots contacted the technical department and reported that they had an electrical problem and that the control lights for the landing gear position did not indicate "extended". After discussing the problem with the technicians and deciding to contact air traffic control so that they have the appropriate emergency equipment available for an emergency landing of the machine, they contacted air traffic control in Salt Lake City again.
When the pilots made contact with air traffic control again after seven and a half minutes, the air traffic controller informed them that they were too close to a mountainside to the right and instructed them to immediately turn left. When the crew did not respond to his instructions, he repeated them. This time the pilots initiated the left turn. Another 15 seconds later, the air traffic controller instructed the pilots to climb to 8,000 feet. The pilots confirmed they were climbing from 6,000 feet to 8,000 feet. At 1:38 a.m. and only eleven seconds later, the machine crashed on a 2,336 meter high mountain flank. The impact occurred at a height of 2,195 meters.
Witness reports
The Farmington , Utah Police Department reported an explosion and subsequent rumble in the ground. The dispatcher called the airport and asked if an aircraft was missing, which was initially denied.
Witnesses in Kaysville and Fruit Heights saw a low-flying plane prior to impact, and shortly thereafter an orange glow to the east that lasted three to four seconds. All of the witnesses reported rain in the area, and some reported that it was raining heavily.
Rescue operation
Farmington Police Department dispatched a rescue team to find the bodies and debris. The rescue team reported that no part of the aircraft found was larger than a briefcase. On the front page of the local newspaper, however, the largest part of the debris was the tail unit of the machine. The point of impact was still clearly visible on the mountainside years after the accident.
root cause
The National Transportation Safety Board , which conducted the investigation into the accident, came to the conclusion that the issue of an incomplete and ambiguous clearance for the flight of holding patterns by the air traffic controller and its acceptance by the flight crew was the cause. The actions of both sides were characterized by habitually sloppy communication procedures. The flight crew was charged with non-compliance with the specified rules for flying in conditions in which there is limited communication with air traffic control. Furthermore, she did not follow the established procedures when flying holding patterns. The aircraft's electrical problems associated with the failure of electrical circuit # 1 were cited as a contributing factor. What caused the failure could not be determined.
In addition, it was found that the machine's cockpit voice recorder was not working, so the accident investigation could not identify any factors in the cockpit.
swell
- Accident Report NTSB-AAR-78-8 , National Transportation Safety Board , July 27, 1978.
- Accident Report, DC-8-54CF, N8047U on the Aviation Safety Network , B3A - Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives .
- Crash of a Douglas DC-8-54F near Kaysville: 3 killed , B3A - Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives .
Individual evidence
- ^ Operating history DC-8F-54, N8047U , planespotters.net
Coordinates: 41 ° 1 ′ 40.8 ″ N , 111 ° 52 ′ 30 ″ W.