United Air Lines Flight 266 facts for kids
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A United Airlines Boeing 727 similar to the accident aircraft
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | January 18, 1969 |
| Summary | Total loss of electrical power for undetermined reasons, resulting in spatial disorientation and loss of control |
| Place | Santa Monica Bay, California, United States 33°56′56″N 118°39′30″W / 33.94889°N 118.65833°W |
| Passengers | 32 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Fatalities | 38 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 727-22C |
| Airline/user | United Airlines |
| Registration | N7434U |
| Flew from | Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California |
| Stopover | Stapleton International Airport, Denver, Colorado |
| Flying to | General Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
United Airlines Flight 266 was a plane trip planned to fly from Los Angeles International Airport in California to Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport in Wisconsin. It had a stop in Stapleton International Airport in Colorado.
On January 18, 1969, a Boeing 727 airplane was flying this route. About four minutes after taking off from Los Angeles, the plane crashed into Santa Monica Bay. This part of the Pacific Ocean is about 11.5 miles (18.5 km) west of the airport. Sadly, all 38 people on board died in the crash.
At the time, people thought there might have been an explosion on the plane. Rescuers found parts of the plane and some mail in the ocean. Because the plane was for domestic flights, it did not have life rafts or life jackets. This made it very unlikely anyone could have survived.
For many years after this event, United Airlines used "Flight 266" for a different route. This route was between San Francisco and Chicago.
Contents
The Flight Crew
The crew flying Flight 266 were experienced pilots.
- The captain was Leonard Leverson, who was 49 years old. He had worked for United Airlines for 22 years. He had flown planes for almost 13,700 hours.
- The first officer was Walter Schlemmer, 33. He had about 7,500 hours of flying time.
- The flight engineer was Keith Ostrander, 29. He had 634 hours of flight time.
Together, these three crew members had over 4,300 hours of experience flying the Boeing 727.
What Happened During the Flight
The Boeing 727 plane, named N7434U, was almost brand new. United Airlines had received it only four months before the accident. It had flown for less than 1,100 hours.
For a few days before the crash, one of the plane's generators (generator #3) was not working. Generators make electricity for the plane. The crew followed normal rules and put tape over the switches and warning lights for this broken generator.
About two minutes after takeoff, the crew reported a fire warning for engine #1. They turned this engine off. The crew then told air traffic control (ATC) that they only had one working generator. They said they needed to return to the airport. This was the last time anyone heard from Flight 266.
Soon after engine #1 was shut down, generator #2 also stopped working. No one knows why this happened. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) later investigated. They could not figure out why generator #2 failed. They also did not know why the backup electrical system did not turn on or failed.
Witness Accounts and Wreckage
Several people on the ground saw Flight 266 take off. They reported seeing sparks from engine #1 or the back of the plane. Some even thought an engine was on fire.
Rescue teams tried to find parts of the plane in the ocean. The wreckage was found in about 930 feet (283 meters) of water. The plane was broken into many small pieces. However, the pieces were spread over a small area. This showed the plane hit the water at a very steep, nose-down angle.
Investigators found that engine #2 and #3 had a lot of damage from spinning very fast when they hit the water. Engine #1 had almost no damage because it was turned off. There was no sign of fire or heat damage on any engines. This meant the witnesses were wrong about an engine fire.
The NTSB could not explain the sparks witnesses saw. They thought it might have been caused by debris entering an engine. It could also have been an electrical problem. They also could not explain the engine #1 fire warning. This might have been due to electrical issues or a broken duct.
Loss of Power and Control
When the plane lost all electrical power, the lights and flight instruments went out. The pilots were flying at night and could not see outside. This caused them to become spatially disoriented. This means they lost their sense of direction and position. They could not tell if the plane was flying straight, climbing, or diving.
Because they could not see their instruments, the pilots lost control of the plane. It crashed into the ocean at a steep angle. The plane's flight controls still worked. They use hydraulic and mechanical systems, not electricity. So, the crash happened because the pilots could not see what they were doing.
Investigators thought about why the backup electrical system might not have turned on:
- The flight engineer might have accidentally turned off the plane's battery. This battery powers the backup system. He might have confused the battery switch with a similar switch for the galley (kitchen) power.
- The battery itself or its charging system might have broken.
- The flight engineer might have set a switch to the wrong position. He might have thought he was turning on the backup system, but instead, he set it to a system that only works on the ground.
- The flight engineer might have just forgotten to switch to backup power. At the time, United Airlines' rules did not clearly tell the crew to switch to backup power right away. They focused on getting a generator working again.
The plane's flight recorders (CVR and FDR) lost power after the engine #1 warning. But they briefly turned back on later. The FDR worked for 15 seconds, and the CVR for nine seconds. During this time, the CVR recorded the crew talking about not being able to see. No sounds of the crash were heard on the recording.
At that time, planes were not required to have a battery-powered backup for important flight instruments. This accident led the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to change the rules. Now, all large planes must have backup instruments. These instruments must be powered by a source separate from the main generators.
Why the Accident Happened
The NTSB determined the main reason for the crash. They said it was "loss of altitude orientation during a night, instrument departure in which the altitude instruments were disabled by loss of electrical power."
They could not figure out two things:
- Why all generator power was lost.
- Why the backup electrical power system did not turn on or failed.
Just five days before Flight 266 crashed, another plane, Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 933, also crashed into Santa Monica Bay. This happened on January 13, 1969. That plane broke in half, and 15 people died. However, 30 people survived because part of the plane stayed floating.
