3 March
1991 - United 585 |
United Airlines Flight 585 was a scheduled domestic passenger airline
flight from the now-decommissioned Stapleton International Airport in
Denver to Colorado Springs Municipal Airport in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
On 3 March 1991, the Boeing 737-200, registered N999UA, carrying 20
passengers plus a flight crew of 5 (Captain Harold Green, First Officer
Patricia Eidson and three flight attendants) crashed while on final
approach to runway 35 at the Colorado Springs airport. There were no
survivors.

Flight 585 left Peoria for Colorado Springs, with intermediate stops
at Moline, IL and Denver, CO. The aircraft took off from Denver at 09.23
for the last segment of the flight, estimating Colorado Springs at 09.42h.
(MST). The aircraft was cleared for a visual approach to runway 35.
The aircraft then suddenly rolled to the right and started to pitch
nose down. The crew tried to initiate a go-around by selecting 15-deg.
flaps and an increase in thrust. The altitude decreased rapidly, acceleration
increased to over 4G until the aircraft struck the ground of Widefield
Park almost vertically.
After a 21-month investigation, the NTSB issued a report on the crash
in December 1992. In that report, the NTSB said it 'could not identify
conclusive evidence to explain the loss of' the aircraft, but indicated
that the two most likely explanations were a malfunction of the airplane's
directional control system or an encounter with an unusually severe
atmospheric disturbance.
Investigation into a September 1994 crash of a USAir Boeing 737-300
and an loss of control incident on June 9, 1996 (Eastwind Airlines Boeing
737-200), cited a malfunction in the plane's rudder system as the most
likely cause of all three events.
Patricia Eidson was the second female pilot to die in an accident involving
a United States commercial airliner. The first female pilot fatality,
was that of First Officer Zilda A. Spadaro-Wolan, in the Henson Airlines
flight 1517 crash of September 23, 1985 near Grottoes, Virginia.

Download
the full NTSB report
Transcript of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)
Legenda
RDO = Radio transmission from accident aircraft
CAM = Cockpit Area Microphone sound or source
-1 = Voice identified as Captain
-2 = Voice identified as First Officer
COSTWR = Colorado Springs Tower
* = Unintelligible word
# = Expletive deleted
() = Questionable text
- = Pause
Time |
Source |
Content |
09.41:20 |
CAM-1 |
Twenty five flaps. |
09.41:23 |
COSTWR |
United five eighty five after landing
hold short of runway three zero for departing traffic on runway
... three zero. |
09.41:25 |
CAM |
[Sound similar to that of an engine
power increase] |
09.41:30 |
CAM-1 |
Starting on down. |
09.41:31 |
RDO-2 |
We'll hold short of three zero
United five eighty five. |
09.41:33 |
CAM-2 |
That's all the way to the end of
our runway not * soesn't mean a thing |
09.41:39 |
CAM-1 |
No problem |
09.41:51 |
CAM |
[sound similar to that of stabilizer
trim actuation] |
09.42:05 |
NAV |
[Sound of "CO" ident on radio channel
two] |
09.42:08 |
CAM-2 |
The marker's identified now it's
really weak. |
09.42:11 |
CAM-1 |
No problem. |
09.42:29 |
CAM-2 |
(We had a) ten knot change here.
|
09.42:31 |
CAM-1 |
Yeah, I know ... awful lot of power
to hold that ... airspeed. |
09.43:01 |
CAM-2 |
Another ten knot gain. |
09.43:03 |
CAM-1 |
Thirty flaps. |
09.43:08 |
CAM-2 |
Wow. |
09.43:09 |
CAM |
[Sound similar to that of an engine
power reduction] |
09.43:28.2 |
CAM-2 |
We're at a thousand feet. |
09.43:32.6 |
CAM-2 |
Oh, God (flip)- |
09.43:33.5 |
CAM-1 |
Fifteen flaps. |
09.43:34 |
CAM-2 |
Fifteen. |
09.43:34.4 |
CAM-2 |
Oh |
09.43:34.7 |
CAM-1 |
Oh! [exclaimed loudly] |
09.43:35.5 |
CAM |
[Click sound similar to that of
a flap lever actuation] |
09.43:34.7 |
CAM-1 |
#. |
09.43:36.1 |
CAM |
[Click sound similiar to that of
a flap lever actuation] |
09.43:36.5 |
CAM-1 |
No! [very loud] |
09.43:37:4 |
CAM |
[Click sound similiar to that of
a flap lever actuation] |
09.43:38.4 |
CAM-2 |
Oh my God... [unidentifiable click
sound] Oh my God! [a scream] |
09.43:40.5 |
CAM-1 |
Oh no (#) [exclaimed loudly] |
09.43:41.5 |
CAM |
[Sound of impact] |
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