United Air Lines Flight 859

United Airlines Flight 859
	Wreckage of the aircraft after the accident
Accident
Date	July 11, 1961
Summary	Mechanical failure combined with pilot error
Site	Denver, Colorado
Total fatalities	18
Total injuries	84
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-8-12
Operator	United Airlines
Registration	N8040U
Flight origin	Omaha-Eppley Airfield, Nebraska
Destination	Denver-Stapleton International Airport, Colorado
Passengers	115
Crew	7
Fatalities	17
Injuries	84
Survivors	105
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities	1

United Airlines Flight 859 was a Douglas DC-8, registration N8040U^[1], on a scheduled passenger flight that crashed on landing at Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado after departing from Omaha, Nebraska's Eppley Airfield on July 11, 1961. Eighteen people were killed, and 84 were injured.

The crash was caused by the failure of the two port engines to generate reverse thrust, which sent the aircraft off the runway. One of the plane's fuel tanks subsequently ruptured and ignited.

Accident[edit]

The aircraft had suffered a hydraulic failure while en route from Omaha. The failure was not thought serious, however; the crew followed the checklists for hydraulic failure, and preparation was made for an expected routine landing. The plane touched down normally, but when the engines' thrust levers were moved to the reverse position, the reverser buckets for the engines on the port side failed to deploy correctly.^[2] That failure caused the left-side engines to continue generating forward thrust, while the right-side engines generated reverse thrust.

The plane immediately began to veer to the right as a result of the asymmetrical thrust. All tires blew out on the right main landing gear, after which the plane left the runway and hit a taxiway still under construction. The nose gear collapsed, and the airplane then slammed into several airport vehicles, including construction equipment. This ruptured a fuel tank on the right wing and caught fire, killing 18 (including one on the ground) and injuring 84 out of a total of 122 people aboard.

Investigation[edit]

Carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death for 16 of the passengers, who were unable to evacuate. One elderly woman broke both ankles during the evacuation, and later died from shock.^[3]

The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) report stated that a contributing factor to the accident was the failure of the first officer to monitor the reverse thrust indicator lights when he applied reverse thrust.^[4]

The airport fire department was found to be deficient in its emergency equipment, but the fire crews were praised for their efforts.

References[edit]

^ "FAA Registry (N8040U)". Federal Aviation Administration.
^ "Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 859". Archived from the original on 2011-10-08.
^ "Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 859". Archived from the original on 2011-10-08.
^ "Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 859". Archived from the original on 2011-10-08.

External links[edit]

39°45′38.6″N 104°53′31.1″W / 39.760722°N 104.891972°W / 39.760722; -104.891972

[1] "FAA Registry (N8040U)". Federal Aviation Administration.

[2] "Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 859". Archived from the original on 2011-10-08.

[3] "Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 859". Archived from the original on 2011-10-08.

[4] "Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 859". Archived from the original on 2011-10-08.

[1]

[2]

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[4]

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United Airlines accidents and incidents	Trip 23 (1933) 1934 Boeing 247 crash Trip 4 (1935) Flight 34 (1936) 1943 Liberator crash at Whenuapai (1943) Flight 521 (1947) Flight 608 (1947) Flight 624 (1948) Flight 610 (1951) Flight 615 (1951) 1955 MacArthur Airport United Airlines crash Flight 409 (1955) Flight 629 (1955) 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision Flight 736 (1958) 1960 New York mid-air collision Flight 859 (1961) Flight 297 (1962) Flight 823 (1964) Flight 389 (1965) Flight 227 (1965) Flight 266 (1969) Flight 553 (1972) Flight 2860 (1977) Flight 173 (1978) Flight 2885 (1983) Flight 811 (1989) Flight 232 (1989) Flight 585 (1991) Flight 826 (1997) Flight 175 (2001) Flight 93 (2001) Flight 1175 (2018) Flight 328 (2021)
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v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1960s
1960	National Airlines Flight 2511 Capital Airlines Flight 20 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 Chicago Helicopter Airways Flight 698 World Airways Flight 830 Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 Cal Poly football team New York mid-air collision
1961	Goldsboro B-52 American Airlines Flight 1502 Yuba City B-52 United Air Lines Flight 859 Alaska Airlines Flight 779 TWA Flight 529 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8 Cincinnati Zantop DC-4
1962	American Airlines Flight 1 Continental Airlines Flight 11 Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 301 United Air Lines Flight 297 Eastern Air Lines Flight 512
1963	Elephant Mountain B-52 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 Camden PA-24 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293 Mohawk Airlines Flight 112 Pan Am Flight 214
1964	Savage Mountain B-52 Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 Paradise Airlines Flight 901A Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 United Air Lines Flight 823 Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114 Flying Tiger Line Flight 282
1965	USAF KC-135 Wichita Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 Pan Am Flight 843 Continental Airlines Flight 12 Allegheny Airlines Flight 604 United Air Lines Flight 389 American Airlines Flight 383 United Air Lines Flight 227 Carmel mid-air (Eastern 853, TWA 42)
1966	NASA T-38 American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D Braniff International Airways Flight 250 West Coast Airlines Flight 956
1967	Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 TWA Flight 553 West Coast Airlines Flight 720 Delta Air Lines Flight 9877 Mohawk Airlines Flight 40 Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 Lake Erie skydiving disaster TWA Flight 159 X-15 Flight 3-65-97 TWA Flight 128
1968	Ozark Air Lines Flight 965 Braniff International Airways Flight 352 Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 Los Angeles Airways Flight 417 Northeast Airlines Flight 946 Japan Air Lines Flight 2 Pan Am Flight 281 Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55 Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 Pan Am Flight 799 North Central Airlines Flight 458 Ozark Air Lines Flight 982
1969	Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 933 United Air Lines Flight 266 Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 Prinair Flight 277 Delta Air Lines Flight 821 TWA Flight 5787 Newton Cessna 172 crash Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 Mohawk Airlines Flight 411
This list is incomplete.

United Air Lines Flight 859

Accident[edit]

Investigation[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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