Fatal Events Since 1970 for United Airlines and United Express

The following events are those involving at least one passenger death where the aircraft flight had a direct or indirect role. Excluded would be events where the only passengers killed were stowaways, hijackers, or saboteurs.

  1. 8 December 1972; United Air Lines 737-200; Midway Airport, Chicago: The aircraft crashed during approach. Three of the six crew and 40 of the 55 passengers were killed.

  2. 28 December 1978; United Air Lines DC8; Portland, OR: The aircraft ran out of fuel while holding for landing and crashed landed. Of the 184 occupants, two crew members and eight passengers were killed.

  3. 24 February 1989; United Air Lines 747; near Hawaii: The forward cargo door blew out during climb and part of the fuselage and interior also blew out of the aircraft. Nine of the 336 passengers were killed.

  4. 19 July 1989; United Air Lines DC10; Sioux City, USA: While in cruise, engine two had an uncontained failure that led to a loss of all three hydraulic systems. The crew maneuvered the aircraft to a crash landing at the Sioux City airport using differential thrust on the two remaining engines to control the aircraft. One of the 11 crew members and 110 of the 285 passengers were killed.

  5. 26 December 1989; United Express (NPA) BAe Jetstream 31; Pasco, WA: A combination of an excessively steep and unstabilzied ILS approach, improper air traffic control commands, and aircraft icing caused the aircraft to stall and crash short of the runway during a night approach. Both crew members and all four passengers were killed.

  6. 3 March 1991; United Air Lines 737-200; Near Colorado Springs, CO: The aircraft departed from controlled flight and crashed during its approach. The NTSB has not yet determined the cause of this accident. All five crew members and 20 passengers were killed.
    NTSB Accident Summary
    NTSB Accident Report

  7. 7 January 1994; United Express (Atlantic Coast Airlines) Jetstream 41; Columbus, OH: The captain initiated the approach at high speed and crossed the final approach fix without first having the airplane properly configured for a stabilized ILS approach. The airplane stalled and crashed 1.3 miles (2.1 km) short of the runway. Two of the three crew members and three of the six passengers were killed.

  8. 19 November 1996; United Express (Great Lakes Aviation) Beech 1900; Quincy, IL: Just after landing, the Beech 1900 was struck by a twin engine Beech King Air that was departing on an intersecting runway. Both crew members and all 10 passengers on the Beech 1900 were killed as were the two occupants of the King Air. The airport did not have a control tower.

  9. 28 December 1997; United Air Lines 747-100; over Pacific Ocean near Japan: The aircraft encountered severe turbulence during cruise about two hours after departing Japan. One of the 346 passengers was killed. None of the 23 crew members were killed but three sustained serious injuries.

  10. 11 September 2001; United Airlines 767 (Flight 175); World Trade Center, New York: The aircraft was on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles when it was hijacked and flown into one of the World Trade Center Towers. Another jet, an American Airlines 767, was hijacked and crashed into the other tower. Both towers later collapsed. All nine crew members, 51 passengers, and five hijackers were killed, as were untold numbers of people on the ground.
    Fatal 767 Events
    Attack on New York and Washington

  11. 11 September 2001; United Airlines 757 (Flight 93); near Pittsburgh, PA: The aircraft was on a flight from Newark to San Francisco when it was hijacked. However, the aircraft crashed outside Pittsburgh. All seven crew members, 34 passengers, and four hijackers were killed.
    Fatal 757 Events
    Attack on New York and Washington

United Airlines Fleet

Please review the U.S. accident and incident record page and the U.S. fleet page for information about United Express and other regional airlines with a United Airlines affiliation.

United 767 Loses Power in Both Engines near Hawaii

4 March 2001; United Air Lines 767; near Kona, HI: While early reports indicated that this 767 had a complete loss of power in both engines, the analysis of the flight data recorder by the NTSB does not support this conclusion. According to early FAA and media reports, United Flight 42 took off from Kahului on the Hawaiian island of Maui on a flight to Los Angeles and experienced a dual-engine shutdown about 70 miles (112 km) into the flight, followed by an in-flight restart and a diversion to the Kona airport. Later analysis of the flight data recorder by the NTSB showed that both engines had a reduction of power to below idle, but did not show any evidence of a complete loss of power in either engine. However, there was roughly a 30-second gap in the data during the time when the engines were operating at reduced power. The aircraft, registration number N666UA, has since been returned to service.



Other 767 aircraft have experienced dual engine shutdowns on at least five other occasions:

  • 23 July 1983; Air Canada 767; near Gimli, Manitoba: The aircraft ran out of fuel after the crew miscalculated the weight of fuel on board. The air

    craft made an emergency landing on an abandoned airfield. There were no serious injuries.

  • 19 August 1983; United Air Lines 767-200; near Denver, CO: Fuel contamination led to a dual-engine shutdown at about 41,000 feet. The crew restarted the engines at about 15,000 feet.

  • 31 March 1986; United Air Lines 767-200; San Francisco, CA: The engines were inadvertently deactivated the engines during climb at about 3,000 feet. The crew was able to restart the engines and returned to the departure airport.

  • 30 June 1987; Delta Air Lines 767-200; Los Angeles, CA: The engines were inadvertently shut off during climb at about 2,000 feet. The crew was able to restart the engines at about 500 feet and continued to their original destination of Cincinnati.

  • 23 November 1996; Ethiopian Airlines 767-200ER; near Moroni, Comoros Islands: The aircraft was on a flight from Ethiopia to Kenya when it was hijacked. The hijackers refused to allow the aircraft to refuel, leading to a dual engine shutdown due to fuel exhaustion. Ten of the 12 crew members and 117 of the 160 passengers were killed during a subsequent ditching. The three hijackers apparently died.

Related Information
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Fatal Events Since 1970 for United Airlines http://airsafe.com/events/airlines/united.htm -- Revised: 10 December 2007