- Date
- August 21, 1990, 09:04 local (16:04 UTC)
- Place
- Los Angeles, CA
- Injuries
- 138 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N305UABoeing 737-322
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 30, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900821043019I
- Case key
- 26661
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
Improper maintenance service by a company employee who allowed a foreign object (flashlight) to remain in the landing gear extend/retract linkage during a night servicing before the flight.
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
The flight of ual flight 1257 was uneventful until the crew extended the landing gear for landing at the destination and received an unsafe right main landing gear indication. The crew was unable to extend the gear and preceded to an airport with a longer runway for a gear up landing. The landing was accomplished without injuries. The right powerplant nacelle received incidental damage during the landing touchdown. When the right landing gear was opened a 3 cell flashlight was found sandwiched between the cargo flooring and the landing gear retract/extend linkage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N305UA
- Reported as
- Boeing 737-322
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 23666
- Engine
- CFM 56-3B-2, 22,500 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- United Airlines
- Departed
- OAK · Oakland, CA
- Destination
- BUR · Burbank, CA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- LAX · Los Angeles Int'L, runway 24L, 10,285 × 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
- 53
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 7,000 total · 800 in this make and model · 1,300 as pilot in command · 140 in the last 90 days · 59 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- LAX
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 N305UA · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.