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This location alongside E. Burnside Street near NE 157th Avenue in Portland, Oregon marks the location of where United Airlines Flight 173 crashed into a suburban part of the city in December 1978, resulting in ten casualties. The aircraft departed JFK airport in New York w/ a scheduled stop in Denver, Colorado before landing in Portland. Approaching the Portland airport, a landing gear problem soon resulted in the crew so focused on the problem that they failed to realize that the plane was running out of fuel until it was too late, causing an emergenly landing into the neighborhood. The plane landed mostly intact, however it took out two houses that are no longer here today. On this side of the street, the grassy lawn had a house that was destroyed by the crash. Parts of the plane are still in the ground & the land is still considered contaminated for any structures to be built, hence it remains bare to this day. Directly across the street are the light brown Windsor Court Apartments where the plane took out a former house & rested to a stop amidst the douglas fir woods. The apartments have since been built after the crash.
From a PDF documentary:
About 18:15 Pacific standard time on December 28, 1978, United Airlines, Inc., Flight 173 crashed into a wooded, populated area of suburban Portland, Oregon, during an approach to the Portland International Airport. The aircraft had delayed southeast of the airport while the flightcrew coped with a landing gear malfunction and prepared the passengers for the possibility of a landing gear failure upon landing. The plane crashed about six miles southeast of the airport. The aircraft was destroyed; there was no fire. Of the 181 passengers and 8 crew members aboard, 8 passengers, the flight engineer, and a flight attendant were killed and 21 passengers and 2 crew members were injured seriously. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the accident was the failure of the captain to monitor properly the aircraft’s fuel state and to properly respond to the low fuel state and the crewmember’s advisories regarding fuel state. This resulted in fuel exhaustion to all engines. His inattention resulted from preoccupation with a landing gear malfunction and preparations for a possible landing emergency. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the other two flight members to fully comprehend the criticality of the fuel state or to successfully communicate their concern to the captain.
From: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR7907.pdf
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The United States is one of the most diverse countries on earth, jam packed full of amazing sights from St. Patrick's cathedral in New York to Mount Hollywood California.The Northeast region is where it all started. Thirteen British colonies fought the American Revolution from here and won their independence in the first successful colonial rebellion in history. Take a look at these rolling hills carpeted with foliage along the Hudson river here, north of New York City.The American south is known for its polite people and slow pace of life. Probably they move slowly because it's so hot. Southerners tend not to trust people from "up north" because they talk too fast. Here's a cemetery in Georgia where you can find graves of soldiers from the Civil War.The West Coast is sort of like another country that exists to make the east coast jealous. California is full of nothing but grizzly old miners digging for gold, a few gangster rappers, and then actors. That is to say, the West Coast functions as the imagination of the US, like a weird little brother who teases everybody then gets famous for making freaky art.The central part of the country is flat farmland all the way over to the Rocky Mountains. Up in the northwest corner you can find creative people in places like Portland and Seattle, along with awesome snowboarding and good beer. Text by Steve Smith.
