Continental Airlines Flight 1713 facts for kids
.jpg)
The aircraft involved in the accident in 1967,
while it was still in service with Air Canada |
|
| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | November 15, 1987 |
| Summary | Loss of control due to atmospheric icing and pilot error |
| Place | Stapleton International Airport, Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
| Passengers | 77 |
| Crew | 5 |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 53 |
| Fatalities | 28 |
| Survivors | 54 |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-9-14 |
| Airline/user | Continental Airlines |
| Registration | N626TX |
| Flew from | Denver–Stapleton Int'l Airport (DEN/KDEN) |
| Flying to | Boise Airport |
Continental Airlines Flight 1713 was a plane that crashed during takeoff in a snowstorm. This happened at Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado, on November 15, 1987. The plane, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, was flown by Continental Airlines. It was supposed to fly to Boise, Idaho. Sadly, 25 passengers and 3 crew members died in the crash.
An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found the main reason for the crash. It was because the pilot did not have the plane deiced a second time before taking off.
Contents
What Kind of Plane Was It?
Flight 1713 used a 21-year-old Douglas DC-9-14 plane. This plane had two engines and was a narrow-body jet airliner. Its special number was N626TX. It had two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7B engines.
The plane first belonged to Air Canada in 1966. Then, it was sold to Texas International Airlines in 1968. Continental Airlines bought Texas International in 1982. The plane had flown for over 52,400 hours in its 21 years of service.
Who Was Flying the Plane?
The main pilot, called the captain, was Frank B. Zvonek Jr. He was 43 years old and had worked for Continental Airlines since 1969. He had a lot of flying experience, but only 166 hours flying the DC-9. He had become a captain less than three weeks before the accident.
The co-pilot, called the first officer, was Lee Edward Bruecher. He was 26 years old and had joined Continental four months earlier. He had flown for another airline before. He had only 36 hours of experience flying the DC-9. He was the one flying the plane when the accident happened. There were also three flight attendants helping passengers.
What Was the Weather Like?
On the day of the accident, Sunday afternoon, it was snowing moderately at Stapleton International Airport. The snow was wet. The heaviest snow fell between 1:10 PM and 2:20 PM MST. The snow was falling fastest around 1:50 PM.
How Did the Accident Happen?
Continental Airlines Flight 1713 was supposed to leave Denver at 12:25 PM. But many flights that day were delayed because of the bad weather. At 1:03 PM, Flight 1713 moved from its gate to the special area for deicing. The air traffic controllers did not know the plane had left the gate. This was because the crew did not ask for permission first. Deicing finished at 1:46 PM.
At 1:51 PM, Flight 1713 asked for permission to "taxi from the ice pad." The controller thought the plane was still at the gate. So, they told the flight to contact Ground Control. Ground Control then cleared Flight 1713 to taxi to the deicing pad. The crew had already finished deicing. They seemed to think this new permission meant they could now taxi from the pad to the runway.
At 2:05 PM, Flight 1713 was at the front of Runway 35L, ready for takeoff. The air traffic controllers were not properly informed about Flight 1713's location. They tried to have other planes take off first. This left Flight 1713 waiting in the falling snow for several minutes. This waiting allowed ice to build up on the plane's wings. Flight 1713 then told controllers they were waiting at the runway for takeoff instructions.
Flight 1713 was cleared for takeoff at 2:14 PM. As the DC-9 was taking off, the pilot flying pulled the nose up too much and too fast. The plane then went down, and its left wing hit the ground. The wing broke off. A fire started in the left wing right after it hit the ground. This caused a "fireball" inside the plane. The left side of the DC-9 and the cockpit then hit the ground. The plane kept sliding and flipped over. As it skidded, the left side was tilted over, and the tail was upside down. This caused the middle part of the plane to crush many passengers.
In total, 25 passengers and 3 crew members died because of the crash. The captain, the first officer, one flight attendant, and 11 passengers died from their injuries. Five passengers died from head injuries. Nine passengers died because they could not breathe. The other 52 passengers and two flight attendants survived. Of those who survived, 25 had minor injuries, and 27 had serious injuries. Many hospitals helped treat the people who survived.
What Did the Investigation Find?
The NTSB looked into the accident. Continental Airlines suggested that strong air currents from another plane, poor snow plowing, and mistakes by air traffic controllers caused the crash. However, the NTSB checked the strong air currents idea and found it was not true.
During the investigation, the pilots' limited experience on the DC-9 plane was considered. Investigators also found that before working for Continental, the co-pilot, Bruecher, had failed a flight test three times at another airline. They confirmed that First Officer Bruecher was flying the plane during the accident.
Investigators found that 27 minutes passed between the end of deicing and Flight 1713's takeoff attempt. This was seven minutes longer than allowed. The NTSB concluded that ice had built up on the wings of Flight 1713 before takeoff. Passengers who survived said they saw "patches" of ice on the wings after deicing. Investigators also believed that enough wet snow fell on the plane after deicing to melt and weaken the deicing fluid. This allowed ice to form again on the wings.
The plane's maker said that even a small amount of ice on the top of the wing could make it hard for the plane to lift. It could also cause the pilots to lose control. Because of this, the NTSB decided that a small amount of ice on the wings caused big problems for Flight 1713.
The NTSB also found that First Officer Bruecher's poor flying during takeoff likely led to him losing control. He pulled the plane's nose up too fast, twice the recommended speed. This, along with the ice on the wings, caused the plane's left wing to lose lift and the plane to start rolling over. This was Bruecher's first flight after not flying for 24 days. The NTSB thought this long break made him forget some of his recent training. This contributed to his poor takeoff.
On September 27, 1988, the NTSB released its final report. They said the accident was caused by the captain not having the plane deiced a second time. This led to ice on the wings and a loss of control when the first officer pulled up too fast. Other factors were confusion between the pilots and air traffic controllers, which caused delays. Also, both pilots were quite new to flying that type of plane.
The NTSB stated:
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the captain's failure to have the airplane deiced a second time after a delay before takeoff that led to upper wing surface contamination and a loss of control during rapid takeoff rotation by the first officer. Contributing to the accident were the absence of regulatory or management controls governing operations by newly qualified flight crew members and the confusion that existed between the flight crew members and air traffic controllers that led to the delay in departure.
What Happened After the Crash?
After the crash, Continental Airlines made its deicing rules clearer. They also created a computer program to stop "green-on-green" crewing. This means pilots with less than 100 hours flying a certain type of plane would not be assigned to the same flight.
Nine months after Flight 1713 crashed, Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 also crashed. When the NTSB wrote its report on Flight 1713, it noted that the pilots had "almost 3 minutes of nonpertinent social conversation" before takeoff. Later, when the NTSB reported on Delta 1141, they found that those pilots also talked about things not related to flying. They even talked about the cockpit voice recorder from the Continental 1713 crash.
Stapleton Airport was replaced by Denver International Airport in 1995. The old airport is now a neighborhood with shops and homes. Continental Airlines later joined with United Airlines in 2010.
In Popular Culture
Continental Airlines Flight 1713 was mentioned in the 1988 movie Rain Man.
The crash was also featured in an episode of Mayday called "Dead of Winter." This was episode 10 of season 18.
In February 1990, Reader's Digest wrote about the flight crew and some passengers in an article called "Miracle In The Blizzard."
See also
In Spanish: Vuelo 1713 de Continental Airlines para niños
