- Date
- January 25, 1987, 14:39 local (19:39 UTC)
- Place
- Fort Wayne, IN
- Injuries
- 6 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N7015UBoeing 727-122
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 10, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- Case key
- 13663
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
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
Aircraft exterior skin failed in fatigue while in cruise flight. The aircraft lost cabin pressure and the passenger oxygen masks automatically deployed. The flight crew donned oxygen masks, declared an emergency to ATC and descended to 10,000 ft. the aircraft diverted to a suitable airport and landed without further incident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7015U
- Reported as
- Boeing 727-122
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18307
- Airframe hours
- 54,622
- Engine
- P&W JT8D-7B, 14,500 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- United Airlines
- Registered owner
- United Airlines
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Departed
- CMH · Columbus, OH
- Destination
- ORD · Chicago, IL
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- 48
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 13,047 total · 5,841 in this make and model · 8 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Lowest ceiling
- None