Continental Airlines

Boeing 737-500

On December 20, 2008, about 1818 mountain standard time, Continental Airlines flight 1404, a Boeing 737-500, N18611, departed the left side of runway 34R during takeoff from Denver International Airport (DEN), Denver, Colorado. A postcrash fire ensued. The captain and 5 of the 110 passengers were seriously injured; the first officer, 2 cabin crewmembers, and 38 passengers received minor injuries; and 1 cabin crewmember and 67 passengers (3 of whom were lap-held children) were uninjured. The airplane was substantially damaged. The scheduled, domestic passenger flight, operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, was departing DEN and was destined for George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Texas. At the time of the accident, visual meteorological conditions prevailed, with strong and gusty winds out of the west. The flight operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan.

McDonnell Douglas MD-81

The aircraft was parked at gate C115 awaiting for passengers on a flight (service CO481) from Newark to Detroit-Wayne County Airport. In unclear circumstances, a pilot attempted to make an engine run test while six employees were cleaning the cabin. The aircraft moved forward and collided with the main terminal, suffering major structural damages. There were no injuries among the seven occupants while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Boeing 737-500

On September 16, 1998, at 2253 central daylight time, a Boeing 737-524 transport airplane, N20643, operating as Continental Airlines flight 475, was substantially damaged following a loss of control during the landing roll at the Don Miguel Hidalgo International Airport near Guadalajara, Mexico. The 2 airline transport rated pilots, the 4 flight attendants, and the 102 passengers were not injured. The airplane was owned and operated by Continental Airlines of Houston, Texas, under Title 14 CFR Part 121. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the scheduled international passenger-cargo flight for which an IFR flight plan was filed. The flight was dispatched from the George Bush International Airport near Houston, Texas, at 2056, for the two hour flight to Guadalajara, State of Jalisco, Mexico. The flight's scheduled arrival time was 2254. After executing a missed approach on their first ILS approach to runway 28, the flight was vectored for a second approach to runway 28. The second approach was reported by both pilots to be uneventful; however, after touchdown, the aircraft drifted to the left side of the runway. The left main landing gear exited the hard surface of the runway approximately 2,700 feet from the landing threshold and eventually all 3 landing gears exited the 197 foot wide asphalt runway. The first officer, who was flying the airplane, stated that he never felt any anti-skid cycling during the landing roll and did not feel any "radical braking" which was expected with the auto-brake in the number 3 setting. The airplane's nose landing gear collapsed resulting in structural damage to the avionics bay, the forward baggage compartment, the engine cowlings and pylons. Both engines incurred FOD. A total of 15 runway lights on the southern edge of runway 28 were found either sheared or knocked down. The tower operator reported that intermittent heavy rain showers accompanied with downdrafts and strong winds associated with a thunderstorm northeast of the airport prevailed throughout the area at the time of the accident. The two transport category airplanes that landed prior to Continental flight 475 reported windshear on final approach. The winds issued to Continental 475 by the tower while on short final were from 360 degrees at 20 knots, gusting to 40 knots. Prior to the arrival of Continental flight 475, an Aeromexico MD-82, drifted to the left side of the runway to the point where the left main gear exited the hard surface of the runway. The pilot of that flight stated that he used differential power to regain control and bring the aircraft back on the runway. The flight taxied to the gate without further incident.

Boeing 727-200

The aircraft was transferred from the maintenance facilities to the main terminal by a technical crew when control was lost. The airplane collided with the USAir Terminal and the cockpit was destroyed.

Douglas DC-9

The airplane landed wheels up and slid 6,850 feet before coming to rest in grass about 140 feet left of the runway centerline. The cabin began to fill with smoke, and the airplane was evacuated. Investigation showed that because the captain had omitted the 'Hydraulics' item on the in-range checklist and the first officer failed to detect the the error, hydraulic pressure was not available to lower the landing gear and deploy the flaps. Both the captain and the first officer recognized that the flaps had not extended after the flaps were selected to 15°. The pilots then failed to perform the landing checklist and to detect the numerous cues alerting them to the status of the landing gear because of their focus on coping with the flap extension problem and the high level of workload as a result of the rapid sequence of events in the final minute of flight. The first officer attempted to communicate his concern about the excessive speed of the approach to the captain. There were deficiencies in Continental Airlines' (COA) oversight of its pilots and the principal operations inspector's oversight of COA. COA was aware of inconsistencies in flightcrew adherence to standard operating procedures within the airline; however, corrective actions taken before the accident had not resolved this problem.

Boeing 737-200

Two technicians took over the airplane from the main Continental maintenance hangar to the gate 41. While approaching the gate, the right wing of the B737 collided with the left wing of a Continental Airlines Boeing 737-300 that was towed from the next gate. While the second B737 was slightly damaged, the right wing of the B737 registered was partially sheared off. There were no casualties but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Douglas DC-9

Weather conditions were moderate snow and freezing temperatures. Following a 27 minute delay between deicing and departure, on takeoff the aircraft was over-rotated by the first officer. Aircraft control was lost, the aircraft stalled and impacted off the right side of the runway. Company procedures called for repeat deicing when in icing conditions if a delay exceeds 20 minutes. Confusion between the tower and the flight crew due to procedural errors resulted in the delayed takeoff clearance. Both pilots were inexperienced in their respective crew positions. The captain had 33 hours experience as a DC-9 captain. The first officer had 36 hours jet experience, all in the DC-9. First officer demonstrated weak scan in training and had pilot performance problems with previous employers. First officer was on reserve, and had not flown for 24 days. The trip was assigned to the first officer for proficiency. Flight was first officer's 2nd trip as DC-9 first officer. Wing vortices from a landing aircraft on a parallel runway were not a factor in the accident.

Douglas DC-10

On March 1, 1978, Continental Air Lines, Inc., Flight 603, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 (N68045), was a scheduled flight from Los Angeles International Airport, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii. At 0857:18, Flight 603 called Los Angeles clearance delivery and was cleared for the route of flight which was to have been flown. About 2 min later, the flight received permission from Los Angeles ground control to push back from the gate. At 0901:37, Flight 603 was cleared by ground control to taxi to runway 6R. The runway was wet, but there was no standing water. At 0922:29, Los Angeles local control cleared Flight 603 to taxi into position on runway 6R and hold. At 0923:17, local control cleared Flight 603 for takeoff; however, the flightcrew did not acknowledge the instructions and did not comply with them. At 0923:57, local acknowledged the instructions. The captain stated that he delayed control, again, cleared the flight for takeoff. This time the flightcrew acknowledgment of the takeoff clearance because he believed that he had initially been given the clearance too soon after a heavy jet aircraft had made its takeoff. The flightcrew stated that acceleration was normal and that all engine instruments were in the normal range for takeoff. As the airspeed approached the V1 speed of 156 kns, the captain heard a loud "metallic bang" which was followed immediately by "a kind of quivering of the plane." The flightcrew noticed that the left wing dropped slightly. A rejected takeoff was begun immediately; however, according to the digital flight data recorder (DFDR), the airspeed continued to increase to about 159 kns as the rejected takeoff procedures were begun. The captain stated that he applied full brake pressure while simultaneously bringing the thrust levers back to idle power. Reverse thrust levers were actuated and full reverse thrust was used. The flightcrew stated that they noted good reverse thrust. First, the aircraft moved to the left of the runway centerline and appeared tb the flightcrew to be decelerating normally. With about of deceleration had decreased, and they believed that the aircraft would 2,000 ft of runway remaining, the flightcrew became aware that the rate not be able to stop on the runway surface. The captain stated that he maintained maximum brake pedal force and full reverse thrust as he steered the aircraft to the right of the runway centerline in an effort "to go beside the stanchions holding the runway lights" immediately off of the departure end of runway 6R. He stated further that he encountered no problems with directional control of the aircraft throughout the rejected takeoff maneuver. The aircraft departed the right corner of the departure end of runway 6R. About 100 ft beyond the runway, the left main landing gear broke through the nonload-bearing tar-macadam (tarmac) surface and failed rearward. Fire erupted immediately from this area. The aircraft dropped onto the left wing and the No. 1 (left) engine and rotated to the left as it continued its slide along the surface. It stopped between two of the approach light stanchions for runway 24L about 664 ft from the departure end of runway 6R and about 40 ft to the right of the runway 6R extended centerline; it came to rest on a heading of 008°, in an 11° left wing low, 1.3° noseup attitude. When the aircraft came to a stop, the evacuation was begun immediately. Two passengers were killed while all other occupants were evacuated, some of them with serious injuries.

Boeing 727-200

The takeoff from Denver-Stapleton Airport was completed from runway 35L in poor weather conditions. At that time, a thunderstorm with associated rain showers was moving over the northern portion of the airport. The Thunderstorm was surrounded by numerous other thunderstorms and associated rain showers but none of these were in the immediate vicinity of the airport. After liftoff, the airplane reached an altitude of 100 feet then lost about 41 kt of indicated airspeed in 5 seconds. The aircraft struck the ground 11.6 seconds after the airspeed began to decrease. The aircraft first hit the ground 387 feet south of the departure end of runway 35L and 106 feet to the right of the runway centerline. The aircraft continued northward to a second impact area about 135 feet north of the end of the first area. The main portion of the second area was 55 feet long and 4 feet wide. The aircraft slid northward from this area and came to rest about 1,600 feet north of the departure end of runway 35L and about 160 feet to the right of the extended runway centerline. All 131 occupants were evacuated, 15 of them were injured.

Rockwell Sabreliner 60

After takeoff from Montrose Airport, while climbing to an altitude of 1,000 feet, the airplane banked left to an angle of 55° then stalled and crashed in a huge explosion. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and both pilots were killed.