With a crew of five and 105 passengers a Boeing 737-293 (a/c #1) was operating a scheduled flight from San Jose to Santa Ana (California, USA) on this day in aviation history, the 17th of February 1981.
After an uneventful flight, the crew performed the descent checklist at 6000 feet and received clearance for a visual approach to runway 19R at John Wayne Orange County Airport.
After being handed off to the Tower Controller the crew was advised they were sequenced behind a Boeing 737 (a/c #2) and a Beech Bonanza. Two minutes later the Tower Controller instructed the Beech Bonanza to "Make a left 360 and report again on downwind" resequencing the Beech Bonanza behind the Boeing 737-293 (a/c 1).
In the meantime, another Boeing 737 (a/c #3)was cleared to line up behind the first landing Boeing 737 (a/c #2). Once the landing Boeing 737 (a/c #2) was seen turning off the runway the aircraft lining up (a/c #3) was cleared for take off. At that time a/c #1 was approximately 3 miles from the runway.
After providing instructions to another aircraft the Tower Controller noticed the B737 (a/c #3) which he had cleared for take-off was still stationary on the runway, judging that there could be a separation conflict he instructed the Boeing 737-293 (a/c #1) to go around. This was followed by the instruction to the aircraft which was cleared for take-off (a/c #3) to abort its take-0ff. The controller then observed that the Boeing 737-293 (a/c #1) was descending with a nose-high attitude approaching runway 19R, he noticed the aircraft touching down with the gear down on the right side of the runway. A short while later he noticed the right wing of the aircraft drop down, followed by the aircraft sliding and pivoting to the right. For about 15 seconds fire was visible under the left wing which then died down.
The crash alarm was activated and within a minute the airport fire department arrived. Five to Ten seconds after coming to a stop the aircraft doors were opened and the evacuation of the passengers commenced. Four passengers sustained serious injuries during the evacuation. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and post-crash fire.
An investigation was launched by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and after six months they published their Aircraft Accident Report. The probable cause of the accident, as stated in the report (which served as the source for this blog) was recorded as follows;
"The NTSB determines that the probable cause of the accident was the captain's failure to immediately initiate a go-around when instructed to do so by the tower's air traffic controller and his subsequent failure to correctly execute the specified go-around procedure which resulted in the retraction of the landing gear after the aircraft touched down on the runway."
The full NTSB accident report with all the details, as recorded/determined during the investigation, can be accessed by clicking on the .pdf file below;
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