AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT. UNITED AIR LINES, INC. BOEING 737, N9031U CHICAGO-MIDWAY AIRPORT CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 8, 1972

A United Air Lines Boeing 737-222 crashed on December 8, 1972, at 1428 c.s.t. while making a nonprecision instrument approach to Runway 31L at the Chicago-Midway Airport, Chicago, ILL. The accident occurred in a residential area approximately 1.5 miles southeast of the approach end of Runway 31L. The aircraft was destroyed by impact and subsequent fire. A number of houses and other structures in the impact area were also destroyed. There were 55 passengers and six crewmembers aboard the aircraft. Forty passengers and three crewmembers were killed. Two persons on the ground also received fatal injuries. The aircraft was observed below the overcast in a nose-high attitude and with the sound of high engine power just before it crashed into structures on the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the captain's failure to exercise positive flight management during the execution of a nonprecision approach, which culminated in a critical deterioration of airspeed into the stall regime where level flight could no longer be maintained.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Paper copy also available Rept. no. SA-435.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Office of Aviation Safety
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1973-8-29

Media Info

• Pagination: 67 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air transportation crashes; Aircraft; Crash investigation; Crash landing; Dwellings; Fatalities; Fires; Instrument landing systems; Loss and damage; Passenger aircraft
• Identifier Terms: Boeing 737 aircraft; U.S. National Transportation Safety Board
• Old TRIS Terms: Aircraft fires; Ntsb
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Safety and Human Factors; Terminals and Facilities; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00050795
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-AAR-73-16
• Files: NTIS
• Created Date: Jan 31 1974 12:00AM