Originating at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, United Airlines Flight 173 stopped in Denver, and continued to Portland on Thursday, December 28, 1978. The pilot reported a problem with the plane’s nose landing gear to the Portland tower, and, according to the National Transportation Safety Board report (pdf), failed to monitor properly the aircraft’s fuel state and to properly respond to the low fuel state. The DC-8 ran out of gas and crashed in Northeast Portland at about 6:15pm.
The Oregonian reported the next day:
The jetliner, reportedly carrying 172 adult passengers, five infants and eight crew members, apparently lost power after circling Portland International Airport and crashed into two vacant houses and a grove of trees at East Burnside Street, five miles southeast of the airport and about 200 feet east of 157th Avenue.
The last known dispatch from the pilot was: “We’re going down. We’re not going to make the airport.”
Further reading:
- The Crash of Flight 173 at Dead Memories Portland
- United Flight 173 Crashed on this Date in 1978 at PDX Retro
- Woman recalls airliner crash in Portland 30 years ago at OregonLive.com
Richard Busby says
Another reason never to fly out of JFK a if one is needed. I bet those 165 survivors demand the day. Talking about dodging the bullet.
Jay Mather says
Back In 1978 I was a Paramedic for a Local Ambulance Company based out of Portland Oregon. When the Plane went Down I had Lived on SE portland at the time. Dispatch called me and told me to respond asap to the scene of the Plane Crash on 157th and east Burnside, It was a cold December day I will never forget .
upon approaching the scene there Must have been over 200 Multnomah county Sheriff’s Deputies protecting entrance to the scene, I showed them My ID and had my uniform on as well no problem in getting in . I noticed a Large amount of what looked like snow but it was insulation from the plane coming down for hours it seemed like. the first victim I saw was a national guard pilot who Looked pale,and sick from what he had saw I helped Him to get further medical treatment then returned to the scene there Most of the passengers were off the plane the dead were scattered all over I saw a Mom and child in a seat that was ejected both still strapped in, there seat, sadly deceased. also a stewardess dead a total of 10 dead I know because I helped Move all of them onto stretchers the worst was the pilot he had His head wrapped in a plastic bag still attached to His body , very sad. to correct a previous comment there was 178 who lived and 10 whom Died. Many stories of heroism. One I would like to share was of a Prisoner who was being transported to Multnomah county Jail…. here is His Story….. about an escaped Oregon convict who had been a passenger on the plane. Kim Campbell, who had been captured in Colorado, was being returned here to face charges. Campbell survived the crash, and helped Capt. Roger Seed, the corrections officer bringing him back, in aiding injured passengers, and then he disappeared into the night. But perhaps the biggest story was one that came out months later: The crash proved to be a major factor in changing the way flight crews on airliners communicate with each other.
The investigation into United Flight 173 revealed that showing too much deference to the captain and his or her decisions in an emergency situation could actually take a bad situation and make it worse.
Because of the outcome of the investigation, major airlines all over the world began to change the way crews were trained.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the first and second officers in the cockpit were unable to get the captain to focus on the real problem facing the troubled airliner – the crafts’s rapidly shrinking fuel supply. Instead, Capt. Malburn McBroom was obsessed with trying to solve a possible problem with the airplane’s landing gear.
As a result of McBroom focusing on the latter problem, the DC-8 ran out of fuel after breaking out of a holding pattern and trying to make it to a runway at Portland International Airport.
Moments after the last of its four engines flamed out, the airliner glided silently to earth near the intersection of East Burnside and 157th Avenue, crashing through a small forest of fir trees and crushing two unoccupied homes.
Janelle L Buchanan says
I was a Sophomore at Benson Technical High School when this happened. It was my understanding that the plane jetsoned fuel in Gorge to make a safer landing. A classmate that lived in the area said that they heard a gliding noise and then a huge noise when it landed. Everyone who lived in the area went in to see what happened and to offer help. I remember that year as very cold and the Willamette River being frozen over.