Plane Crash List

Boeing 737-300 N321UA

8 June 1997 · Valparaiso, Indiana, United States · Serious injuries

Summary

On 8 June 1997 at about 14:17 local time, a Boeing 737-300 registered N321UA was involved in an accident near Valparaiso, Indiana, United States. 81 people were on board and one was seriously injured, one had minor injuries. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

The record

Date
at 14:17
Classification
Accident
Location
Valparaiso, Indiana, United States
Coordinates
41.4701, -87.0495
Aircraft
Boeing 737-300
Registration
N321UA
Category
Airplane
Engines
2
Operator
Not recorded
Operating rule
Part 121: Air Carrier
Purpose of flight
Unknown
Phase of flight
Not recorded
Route
Philadelphia → Chicago
Aircraft damage
Not recorded
Weather
IMC
Light
Day
NTSB number
CHI97LA162

People

1 person was seriously injured.

On board Died Serious Minor Uninjured
81 0 1 1 79

Probable cause

a delay by the pilot of the other aircraft in turning on his mode C transponder.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

While on initial descent into O'Hare International Airport, the flight crew of United 1517 received a Traffic Advisory (T/A) followed by a Resolution Advisory (R/A) from the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). The flight crew reported their altitude as being about 11,500' when the T/A was received. The first radar hit on the target airplane was at 11,200'. The Captain executed an abrupt pull-up in order to avoid colliding with the other airplane. Two flight attendants were injured during the evasive maneuver. The pilot of the other airplane reported that when passing through 10,000' he noticed his Mode C transponder was not selected; at that time, he changed the selector position. Investigation of the event revealed the closest separation between the two airplanes was .1nm horizontally and 50' vertically.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.

Other Boeing 737 accidents

Date Aircraft Location Operator Outcome Died
26 Dec 1997 Boeing 737-522
N918UA
Eugene, Oregon, United States - No injuries -
17 Apr 1997 Boeing 737-300
N962WP
Colorado Spgs, Colorado, United States Western Pacific No injuries -
11 May 1997 Boeing 737-524
N16618
Corpus Christi, Texas, United States Continental Airlines, Inc. No injuries -
27 Sep 1997 Boeing 737-3T0
N13331
Seattle, Washington, United States Continental Airlines No injuries -
24 Sep 1997 Boeing 737-200RS
N205AU
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States Frontier Airlines, Inc. Minor injuries -
8 May 1997 Boeing 737-300 Shenzhen, China
no coordinates
China Southern Airlines Fatal 35

All 1,317 records for this type

Other accidents in this area

Date Aircraft Location Operator Outcome Died
5 Jul 1997 Niquette PIETENPOL GN-1
N46844
Lake Village, Indiana, United States
no coordinates
- Minor injuries -
27 Jul 1997 Piper PA-28R-200
N5027T
Auburn, Indiana, United States - No injuries -
11 Aug 1997 Taylorcraft L2A
N51372
Shelbyville, Indiana, United States - No injuries -
27 Mar 1997 Stinson 108
N97120
Greenfield, Indiana, United States - Fatal 1
22 Aug 1997 Schweizer SGS 1-26E
N600JP
Zionsville, Indiana, United States - Serious injuries -
12 Jul 1997 Cessna 150F
N8197S
Gary, Indiana, United States - Fatal 1

All 170,864 records in United States