United Airlines Flight 267 - Airbus A320 - Runway - Jackson Hole - Wyoming

[Airline News]

The National Transportation Safety Board sent two investigators to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to investigate an incident in which a United Airlines jet veered off the side of a runway.

On February 25, 2008, at 9:16 p.m. MST, an Airbus A-320, registration N442UA, operated by United Airlines as flight 267, departed the right side of runway 19 during landing at Jackson Hole Airport.  The captain, first officer, four flight attendants and 119 passengers evacuated the aircraft via the emergency slides.

During the evacuation, one of the inflatable slides did not deploy. No serious injuries have been reported.

The airplane departed Denver at 7:44 pm MST with the intended destination of Jackson Hole.  Visual meteorological conditions prevailed during the nighttime landing.  The reported weather at the airport about the time of the incident was wind calm, visibility of 10 miles, and overcastclouds at 3200 feet above the ground.

The airplane came to rest on its landing gear at about a 90 degree angle to the runway in snow about three feet deep. An initial examination of the aircraft revealed no readily visible signs of structural damage or evidence of fire.

The captain and first officer have both been interviewed by Safety Board investigators. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) were removed from the aircraft and sent to the NTSB headquarters in Washington where they will be read out.

Source: NTSB

What went wrong? Braking? Nosewheel steering?

Good to hear there were no serious injuries.

Hmmmm. 

[Airline News]

We now have video of the United Airlines Flight 267 incident in our airline news section.

Video: United Airlines Flight 267

[Airline News]

In its continuing investigation of an incident in which a United Airlines Airbus A-320 jetliner departed the runway during landing at Wyoming's Jackson Hole Airport on the evening of February, 25, 2008, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has developed the following factual information during its on-scene investigation.

The airplane came to rest 116 feet past the end of the runway and 140 feet to the right of the runway centerline. 

A heavy skid mark was found on the runway associated with the inboard tire of the left main landing gear.  This tire was found deflated and showed wear consistent with a skid.

Upon exiting the runway, both engines ingested snow and sustained internal damage.  The aircraft itself was not substantially damaged.

Examination of the left main landing gear brakes revealed that the inboard and outboard wheel speed tachometer wires were cross-connected. 

Such a configuration would be likely to cause the antiskid system to use the inboard wheel speed
to control the outboard braking, and vice versa. 

In such a situation, it would be likely that when the inboard tire began to skid, the antiskid system would release the pressure on the outboard brake instead of the inboard brake.
 
Examination of maintenance records indicated that both main landing gear units were replaced on the incident airplane in early February 2008. 

The Safety Board is also investigating another United A-320 incident with similar circumstances
that occurred on October 9, 2007.
 
Another area of the investigation is the inoperability of one of the emergency evacuation slides.

The slide at the front left door deployed when the door was opened during the evacuation but did not inflate.  The manufacturer of the slide will assist the NTSB in its investigation of the cause of the failure.

Information obtained from the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) is being analyzed at the Safety Board's laboratory in Washington.

Investigators are continuing to gather factual information in aircraft performance, human factors and other areas.

Source: NTSB

Recent landing gear work? Not good.