- Date
- October 27, 1989, 12:45 local (18:45 UTC)
- Place
- Rapid City, SD
- Injuries
- 40 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N344UABoeing 737-322
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 26, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891027057769I
- Case key
- 17850
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
The inflight failure of the recirculating fan unit and several air duct temperature limiting sensors.
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
While climbing through flt level 280, the flt crew detected an odor and some smoke in the cockpit and cabin. The captain elected to return to the departure airport & he landed without further incident. Maintenance personnel inspected the acft and replaced several air conditioning system temperature sensors and the recirculating fan assembly. These actions corrected the problem and the acft was returned to service.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N344UA
- Reported as
- Boeing 737-322
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24248
- Airframe hours
- 324
- Engine
- GE CFM56, 20,000 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- United Airlines
- Registered owner
- Wilmington Trust Co Trustee
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Destination
- FSD · Sioux Falls, SD
- Flight plan
- IFR
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 46
- Certificates
- Flight engineer, Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 28 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- RAP
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.