Jetliner averts belly landing at Denver International

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Jetliner averts belly landing at DIA By Jeffrey Leib Denver Post Staff Writer

May 20 - A United Airlines Boeing 757 from Boston averted an emergency belly landing at Denver International Airport on Friday after encountering hydraulics problems that plagued the landing gear.

The 178 passengers were told of the problem about 90 minutes before the landing, then were told, "The situation is deteriorating rapidly." Flight attendants instructed them in emergency-landing procedures.

Authorities had trucks available to spray 1,200 gallons a minute of firefighting foam in case of flames, but it never came to that.

Airport officials said the plane circled as far north as Greeley and dumped fuel to minimize fire danger in the event of a crash.

Pilots of the DIA-bound Flight 39 were finally able to get the landing gear into a down-and-locked position and the aircraft landed safely about 1:35 p.m., airport officials said.

On their audio headsets, many passengers were listening in to conversations between the cockpit and DIA's flight controllers during the emergency. Jack White, flying in from Boston with his wife and son, said the crew considered the possibility that leaking hydraulic fluid had frozen the landing-gear doors shut.

Passengers said the plane descended to lower altitudes in the hope that the fluid might thaw. United spokesman Matt Triaca would not confirm that the gear problem was related to frozen hydraulic fluid.

White called the incident "real harrowing," but praised the "awesome" flight attendants who prepared passengers for an emergency landing.

About 20 minutes before the landing, after the crew informed the cabin that the gear had been successfully lowered, passengers cheered, hugged one another and exchanged high-fives, said Jerry DeWitt, who was returning home on the flight after a business trip.

"The flight attendants did a fantastic job," DeWitt said.

"The captain and crew should be commended; they kept their cool,"

added Elizabeth Esten, who with her husband, Nathaniel, was traveling from Boston to Colorado Springs for their granddaughter's graduation from Colorado College. "But it wasn't fun. We consider ourselves very lucky." Triaca said the plane was taken out of service Friday afternoon and mechanics would perform a complete maintenance and inspection check of the aircraft before it returns to the air.

Buck Wyles, assistant chief for DIA's fire and rescue unit, said the airport had about a dozen of its firefighting trucks available in case the flight had to make a belly landing, and officials called in at least seven more trucks from northeast Denver fire stations.

After exiting the plane around 2:25 p.m. at Gate 29 on DIA's Concourse B, passengers said the cockpit crew told had them they had a problem with the plane's hydraulics about an hour before the scheduled 1:06 p.m. arrival at DIA.

Later, pilots announced that the situation was deteriorating. Passengers were instructed by flight attendants in emergency-landing procedures, including how to lean forward, duck their heads and grab ankles in a safety bracing position, said passenger Anna Stark, who was returning home for the summer after completing her junior year at Boston College.

After emerging from the plane's jetway, Stark tearfully embraced her parents, John and Susan.

Passenger Nancy Prichard said the pilots were very composed during the emergency, even when they came on the public-address system to say the situation was deteriorating rapidly. The entire crew "made the best of a frightening situation,"

said Prichard, traveling from her home in New Hampshire to a conference at Keystone Resort.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/news0520c.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 20, 2000


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