Uncontrolled Descent and Collision with Terrain, United Airlines Flight 585, Boeing 737-200, N999UA, 4 Miles South of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport

What Happened

?On March 3, 1991, a United Airlines Boeing 737, registration number N999UA, operating as flight 585, was on a scheduled passenger flight from Denver, Colorado, to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and the flight was on an instrument flight rules flight plan. Numerous witnesses reported that shortly after completing its turn onto the final approach course to runway 35 at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, about 0944 mountain standard time, the airplane rolled steadily to the right and pitched nose down until it reached a nearly vertical attitude before hitting the ground in an area known as Widefield Park. The airplane was destroyed, and the 2 flight crewmembers, 3 flight attendants, and 20 passengers aboard were fatally injured. (Note: this report is a revision to AAR-92-06, and includes information developed after its adoption in December 1992.)

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