Plane Loses Power in all 4 Engines Just Over the City of Portland | Air Disasters | Smithsonian

December 28, 1978: as the engines on United 173 flamed out one after the other, it soon became clear that they’d run out of fuel. The plane’s incredulous captain now switches his attention to a perilous emergency landing in a densely populated urban area in the US.

#AirDisasters #SmithsonianChannel

[Lorenzoavition]

I was so scared but then got a lot of relief when they did the passenger interview

[collinslfc]

It always amazes me how the cameraman stays so calm when everybody else is losing their minds.

[jrocksburr]

Not only did the landing gear fail but his fuel gage was also failing so he had no clue that he had no fuel until it was too late, literally a pilots worst nightmare and he still saved 171 peoples lives. Crazy respect.

[CrystalDepth]

Salute to all the pilots who suceed their plane crashes and survived

but we need a rip ceremony for the ones who died.

[hardv]

The fact that they had run out of fuel probably saved 100's of people from an explosion. Great flying from the flight crew.

[noahthesarcastictd]

Cause: The captain was too focused on the landing gear since the light wasnt turning on, they circled for an hour (or more) and the plane ran out of fuel and the rest is what shown in the video.

[sankalplal]

If you don't give up and wants to see your family again for them and for all passengers. Let's make it. That's the spirit captain hats off 👍👍

[MysteryMists]

Applause to the pilot to save so many lives even after engine failure 👍

[ruwansri]

Recently I flew A330 343 and the landing was not succeeded and in early 90's I couldn't imagine how heavy to keep that big body moving without all engines. Incredible piloting❤️

[orrangetv]

Brought a tear to my eyes when the narrator said most of the passengers including the pilot survived. This is how real heroes look.

[berneyvonk]

I was living in the area where the plane went down. The pilot was too busy, trying to diagnose a landing gear problem. A Crewmember even told him that they were getting low on fuel, but the captain ignored him.

[lambdatoaster]

2:33 Imagine being a resident of that apartment that day only to see a big plane almost hit your roof

[chuckmanofgod]

It’s amazing that most of the people on the plane survive and the plane was still intact, at least at the fuselage. It’s also amazing that no one on the ground was killed.

[davidn]

the pure determination from the captain amazes m. he was trying to steer through the trees and save himself as well as the passengers.
lets take a moment to salute this man and other pilots and captains flying out there.

[moonstonejan]

Thank God they are all safe. Thanks for sharing this story

[redlandsrunner]

A google search shows that this plane ran out of fuel because the crew circled over Portland while investigating an instrument problem with the landing gear. In retrospect, they could have landed the plane safely, but they spent too much time working the problem. The plane ran out of fuel, and 10 passengers died. The NTSB faulted the captain for management failure. The captain lost his pilots license afterwards. The NTSB went on to create new rules concerning shared responsibilities among flight crews.

[LSBPS]

On December 28, 1978, the aircraft flying this route ran out of fuel while troubleshooting a landing gear problem and crashed in a suburban Portland neighborhood near NE 157th Avenue and East Burnside Street, killing 10 on board

[sherrypalmer]

The first rule of flying is to make sure you have enough fuel to land safely at an airport. The captain and crew failed to monitor the fuel level, therefore causing this emergency situation. Their attention to the landing gear issue should have become secondary when fuel began to run low, resulting in the lose of ten lives. Captain McBroom was lucky in finding the only suitable place to crash land.

[rysiek]

After watching those episodes I think it's a miracle that any plane reaches its target

[noahater]

And I thought carefully ditching a crippled airplane in a body of water was hard…