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United Airlines Flight 533, registration , City of Lincoln, was a Boeing 737-222 en route from Washington National Airport to Omaha, Nebraska via Chicago Midway Airport on December 8 1972. After being told to go around and abort their first landing attempt on runway 31L, the aircraft struck trees and then roofs along 71st street before crashing into a home in the 3700 block of 70th Place. A total of 45 people were killed in the accident, 43 of them on the plane. The 3 man flight crew was killed but the 3 flight attendants survived. The pilot union contract at the time compelled United Airlines to have three licensed pilots onboard, even though Boeing had designed the 737 to be flown by a crew of 2, instead of 3. The only person to survive in forward part of the plane ahead of the wing was the First Class flight attendant. She was severely injured in the crash and her jumpseat collapsed. Fifteen passengers and the other two flight attendants in coach survived.
Among the passengers killed were Illinois Congressman George W. Collins and Watergate suspect E. Howard Hunt's wife, Dorothy Hunt.
Investigation
The accident was, at the time, one of the most investigated airplane crashes in history. Mrs. Hunt's purse contained $10,585 in cash and she had purchased flight insurance for $250,000 prior to boarding the flight. Conspiracy theorists believed the plane was targeted by government agencies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation assisted the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation when claims the flight was sabotaged surfaced. The office of the Cook County Medical Examiner convened a coroner's jury and launched a parallel investigation. Some have claimed the FBI witheld or destroyed evidence. The NTSB issued its report after recreating the last minutes of the flight based on the flight and voice recording instruments, interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses on the ground, and physical evidence. According to the report, when Midway's control tower directed the crew to abort the landing and try again, they became distracted and failed to prepare for a proper landing in low visibility. As they attempted to pull the jet from the landing descent, the crew forgot to deactivate the wing spoilers. The plane stalled, and then crashed.
Thirty-three years later to the day, in 2005, Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 skidded off the same runway, now 31C, at Midway Airport and on to a residential street.
Trivia
United still flies a flight under the 533 designation; however, it now flies between Boston and Chicago. (source: united.com flight status)
External links
See also
Runway overshoots
Accidents and incidents on commercial airliners | Accidents and incidents on commercial airliners in the United States | December 81972
"United Airlines Flight 533"