, registration N8082U
1, was a
Douglas DC-8-61 en route from
Denver to
Portland, Oregon , on
December 28 ,
1978 . When the landing gear was lowered, only two of the landing gear indicator lights lit up. The plane repeatedly circled in the vicinity of Portland while the crew investigated the problem. Still uncertain, the pilot decided to go around once again, despite the low fuel state. As a result the plane ran out of fuel and crash-landed in a sparsely populated area near 158th and Burnside Ave, killing 10 and seriously injuring 24 of the 181 on board. The investigation revealed that there was in fact no problem with the landing gear itself but with the right main gear position indicator.
NTSB Report (PDF)
The accident was investigated by the
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) which issued its final report on
June 7 ,
1979 . In the report, the NTSB determined the following
Probable Cause :
"The failure of the captain to monitor properly the aircraft's fuel state and to properly respond to the low fuel state and the crewmember's
advisories regarding fuel state. This resulted in fuel exhaustion to all engines. His inattention resulted from preoccupation with a landing gear malfunction and
preparations for a possible landing emergency."
The NTSB also determined the following contributing factor:
"The failure of the other two flight crewmembers either to fully comprehend the criticality of the fuel state or to successfully communicate their concern to the captain."
As a result of this accident United Airlines instituted the industry's first
Crew Resource Management/Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) program, which proved to be so successful that it is now used throughout the world.
Another aircraft accident involving a faulty landing gear indicator was
Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 , which crashed while circling around the airport. The crew was pre-occupied with the nose gear problem and accidentally disabled the autopilot causing the aircraft to make a slow descent and crash into the Everglades. Further investigation revealed that the nose gear had, in fact, been lowered.
FAA registration N8082U was set to suffer another tragic fate on
July 27 ,
2007 , in
Oshkosh ,
Wisconsin . A homebuilt
P-51A with the identical registration suffered a fatal accident while landing at the
EAA AirVenture following a flight demonstration. http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20070801X01080&key=1
