Crash of United Jetliner Kills 25 in Colorado ---- By Asra Q. Nomani and Laurie McGinley Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal
Local news reporters quoted witnesses as saying that the plane appeared to nosedive into the earth. The crash comes at a particularly sensitive time for the travel industry. Although it has always been difficult to measure the effect of crashes on travel, this accident comes just as people were starting to get over fears of terrorism related to the Persian Gulf war. Airlines have been slashing their flight schedules and laying off employees because of the downturn. Some travel agencies have gone to four-day workweeks. Most of the travel sector has resorted to sharp discounting to spark travel. This, in fact, may have been one reason why the load on the United flight was light. The jet, which can hold at least 100 passengers, carried 20 passengers and a crew of two pilots and three flight attendants. Yesterday's marks the third crash of a United jet in the past three years. In July 1988, a United DC-10 crashed in Sioux City, Iowa, after an engine broke apart in flight, killing 112 people. In February 1989, the cargo door on United Boeing 747 burst open near Hawaii, tearing a gaping hole in the fuselage. Nine passengers died. About two hours before yesterday's crash, the National Weather Service in Colorado Springs issued its first high wind warning for the area since January, according to James Hall, a meteorological technician observer in Colorado Springs. Moments after the crash, the average wind speed was 23 miles per hour, gusting to 32 mph, Mr. Hall said. "When it's gusty like that, the conditions are quite choppy. It would be like a turbulent river current. It's essentially like water hitting rocks and splashing and foaming over." A Federal Aviation Administration official said, "There were some reports of gusting winds but whether or not that had any impact or whether there was any kind of mechanical problem, I can't speculate." Another FAA official said that although it is too early to pinpoint the cause, "wind shear would be a major area of investigation." If preliminary reports that there was wind shear in the area are true, then "that would indicate there was some instability in the atmosphere," he added. Wind shear is a sudden, violent shift in wind direction. It can smash an airplane into the ground. However, he said that wind shear is most dangerous when an aircraft is flying at a very low altitude, either shortly before landing or right after takeoff. In Sunday's crash, the jetliner was a few miles from the airport and so should have been at a somewhat higher altitude. The last major U.S. wind shear accident occurred in Dallas in 1985, when a Delta Air Lines jet crashed on approach. Since then, the FAA and the industry have revamped pilot training on wind shear and have devoted considerable resources to dealing with the hazard. No buildings or structures on the ground were damaged by the crash, according to the El Paso County Sheriffs Department. An eight-year-old girl who was playing nearby, was treated for a head injury and released. The jet involved in the crash is almost nine years old. It was delivered in May 1982 to now-defunct Frontier Airlines. United acquired the plane in June 1986. The plane was operated by an engine manufactured by United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt &amp; Whitney division. --- Brett Pulley in Chicago contributed to this article.
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