EXCERPTS: ‘I Have Doubts About Making the Airport’

WASHINGTON — At 3:18 p.m. on July 19, the Minneapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZMP) prepared to hand off control of eastbound United Airlines Flight 232, whose hydraulic system had been crippled by an engine explosion, to the Iowa Approach Control Radar Station (SUX) in Sioux City, manned by Kevin Bachman.

At 3:59 p.m., Flight 232 crashed at the Sioux Gateway Airport, killing 111 persons. What follows are excerpts of a tape released Friday by the Federal Aviation Administration of the conversations of air traffic controllers with the flight crew of Flight 232 during those final minutes.

ZMP: Sioux City, got an emergency for you.

SUX: All right.

ZMP: I’ve got a United aircraft coming in. Lost No. 2 engine, having a hard time controlling the aircraft right now. He’s out of 29,000 right now and descending to Sioux City right now. He’s east of your VOR (directional beacon) but he wants the equipment standing by right now . . . .

He’s having a hard time controlling the plane right now and trying to slow down and get steady on a heading right now and, as soon as I get comfortable, I’ll ship him over to you and he’ll be in your control . . . .

UA 232: OK, so you know, we have almost no control ability, very little elevator and almost no aileron. We are controlling the turns by power. I don’t think we can turn right but I think we can only make left turns. We are starting a little bit of a left turn, I mean we can only turn right but we can’t turn left.

SUX: United 232 Heavy, understand, sir, you can only make right turns?

UA 232: That’s affirmative.

SUX: United 232 Heavy, roger, your current, your present tracks put you about eight miles north of the airport, sir, and the only way we can get you around to three-one is a slight left turn with differential power, or if you can jockey it over.

UA 232: OK, we’re in a right turn right now, that’s about the only way we can go . . . .

We have no hydraulic fluid. . . . I have serious doubts about making the airport. Have you got some place near there that we might be able to ditch? Unless we get control of this airplane, we’re going to put it down wherever it happens to be.

SUX: United 232 Heavy, roger, ah, standby one . . . . United 232 Heavy, can you hold that present heading sir?

UA 232: Where is the airport now for 232 as we’re turning around in circles?

SUX: United 232 Heavy, say again?

UA 232: Where is the airport for us now as we come spinning down here?

SUX: United 232 Heavy, Sioux City Airport is about 12 o’clock and three-six miles.

UA 232: OK, we are trying to go straight. We’re not having much luck.

The controller and Flight 232 try to establish a course to the airport. The crew indicates that it has gained some control over the plane’s altitude.

UA 232: United 232, ah, we’re going to have to continue one more right turn. We’ve got the elevators pretty much under control within three or four hundred feet but we still can’t do much with the steering.

SUX: United 232 Heavy, roger, understand you do have the elevators possibly under control, will you be able to hold the altitude?

UA 232: Negative, we don’t have it. We are better, that’s all . . . . We’re starting a left turn back to the airport since, ah, we have no hydraulics, braking is really going to be a problem. Ah, we suggest the equipment be towards the far end of the runway, and I think, under the circumstances, regardless of the condition of the airplane when we stop, we’re going to evacuate, so you might notify the, ah, ground crew equipment that we’re going to do that.

SUX: United 232 Heavy, ah, wilco, sir, and if you can continue that left turn to about a two-twenty heading, sir, that will take you right to the airport . . . .

United 232 Heavy, you are going to have to widen out just slightly to your left sir, ah, to make the turn to final and also to take you away from the city.

UA 232: Whatever you do, keep us away from the city . . . .

SUX: United 232 Heavy, been advised there’s a four-lane highway up in that area, sir, if you can pick that up.

UA 232: OK, we’ll see what we can do here. We’ve already put the gear down and we’re going to have to put it down on something solid if we can.

The controller tries to establish a course that United 232 can hold as the plane nears the airport.

SUX: United 232 Heavy, roger, that heading will put you, oh, ah, currently 15 miles northeast of the airport; if you can hold that, it will put you on about three-mile final.

UA 232: OK, we’re giving it heck . . . .

SUX: And, ah, United 232 Heavy, ah, if you cannot make the airport, sir, there is an interstate that runs, ah, north to south to the east side of the airport . . . . It’s a four-lane interstate.

UA 232: We’re just passing it right now. We’re going to try for the airport.

SUX: United 232 Heavy, roger, and advise when you get the airport in sight.

UA 232: Have runway in sight. We’ll be with you very shortly. Thanks a lot for your help.

SUX: United 232 Heavy . . . . You’re cleared to land on any runway.

UA 232: (Laughter) You want to be particular and make it a runway, huh?

SUX: United 232 Heavy, roger, sir, that’s a closed runway that will work, sir. We’re getting the equipment off the runway, and they’ll line up for that one.

UA 232: How long is it?

SUX: Sixty-six hundred feet . . . and the equipment is coming off. At the end of the runway, it’s just a wide open field so, sir, so the length won’t be a problem.

UA 232: OK. (Twelve seconds elapse, then a ground-proximity warning horn sounds.) Pull up, pull up . . . (unintelligible).