- Date
- February 11, 1987, 23:17 local (Feb 12, 1987, 04:17 UTC)
- Place
- Detroit, MI
- Injuries
- 3 serious, 16 minor, 222 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N4718UBoeing 747-122
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report August 13, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19870211003519A
- Case key
- 13631
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Drg flt, united flt 108 recd info of a bomb threat. Due to a short time limit, specified in the threat, the flt divertedto Detroit & the slides were used to evacuate the acft; 8 of 10 slides deployed nmly & were used. The slide at door 4R didn't inflate & wasn't used. The flt attendant (f/a) at door 5R perceived that the slide (slide/raft) at that lctn was inflating slowly. She pulled what she thought was the manual inflation handle (mih) & heard a hissing sound. She then sent 2 helpers (pax) dwn the slide. As they egressed, the slide sepd fm the acft & fell to the gnd; 1 of the 2 recd a serious back injury. As otr slides were used, 2 otr pax recd serious leg injuries & 16 pax recd minor injuries. An inv revealed the f/a at door 5R inadvertently pulled the release handle (RH) when she atmtd to use the mih. Both handles were made of canvas mtrl & were about the same size. The mih was red with a piece of white mtrl marked 'pull' in red ltrs; the RH was white & was also marked 'pull' in red ltrs. No reason was fnd for the slide at door 4R not to enflate.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4718U
- Reported as
- Boeing 747-122
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 19879
- Airframe hours
- 52,055
- Engine
- P&W JT9D, 46,250 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- United Airlines
- Registered owner
- United Airlines
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- ORD · Chicago, IL
- Destination
- EWR · Newark, NJ
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- DTW · Detroit Metro Wayne Co, runway 3R, 10,000 × 150 ft, concrete
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 58
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 14,997 total · 7,043 in this make and model · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 80° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- 32 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DTW
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N4718U · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.