322:, rather than using the rudder, the first officer had tried to compensate for the right drift by turning the aircraft to the left using ailerons, which control the aircraft's longitudinal "roll" axis rather than the vertical "yaw" axis which would have been the correct response to compensate for an asymmetrical thrust condition. The use of ailerons also deployed spoilers on the "down" wing, which increased the aircraft's net drag and decreased its net lift. A second activation of the stick shaker stall warning resulted. The relief pilots urged the flight crew to enter a shallow dive to gain airspeed and avoid a stall, but this soon brought the aircraft close to San Bruno Mountain. The
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landing gear had been retracted, at approximately 300 feet (90 m) above ground level, the first officer initially believed one of the tires had failed. At the same time, the exhaust gas temperature of the #3 engine (the inboard engine on the starboard wing) rose to 750 °C (1,380 °F), exceeding the takeoff limit of 650 °C (1,202 °F). With the first officer still flying, the captain retarded the #3 engine throttle to idle, which stopped the temperature rise and aircraft vibration.
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of her colleagues and said, "... Is United 863 still ... oh there he is, he scared me, we lost radar, I didn't want to give you another airplane if we had a problem." In total, the aircraft had disappeared from radar for approximately 15 seconds. Residents in houses along the flight path, in South San
Francisco, Daly City, and San Francisco, called into the airport to complain about the noise and voice their fears the aircraft was about to crash.
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By later accounts, the plane narrowly cleared San Bruno
Mountain by only 100 feet (30 m). The aircraft had approached San Bruno Mountain so closely that air traffic control radars briefly stopped detecting the aircraft. An air traffic controller in the San Francisco tower was conversing with one
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After the near-collision, UA863 was vectored out to sea to dump fuel to reduce weight and return to San
Francisco for an overweight landing. During the initial climbout, the first officer stated he had noted the aircraft was handling sluggishly and was slow to climb, which he instinctively responded
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entered fog at the end of runway 28R. After lifting off, the crew experienced a "loud thumping noise" accompanied by vibration just after the aircraft's landing gear had retracted. The first officer was handling the takeoff under the captain's supervision, and since the noise occurred just after the
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United
Airlines revised its training protocols after the incident by implementing much more rigorous standards, which ultimately became industry-wide standards. All 9,500 of United's pilots were shown a recreation of the occurrence, filmed in one of United's simulators. As a compromise, pilots were
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required to make at least three takeoffs and landings in a 90-day period, of which at least one had to be in an actual aircraft. Aviation media consultant Barry Schiff noted the incident in an article decrying the lack of basic stick-and-rudder skills, especially among pilots who had never flown a
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system activated and the captain took over control of the aircraft. The captain later stated he held the aircraft level to gain airspeed and avoid a stall, but it had drifted to the right due to the imbalanced thrust and narrowly missed colliding with San Bruno
Mountain, which rises to a height of
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to by " the nose up just a bit more to climb away from the ground." The first officer had limited experience, having made only one takeoff and landing in a 747 during the year preceding the occurrence.
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while recovering from the engine failure. The aircraft was able to dump fuel over the
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Illustration of roll, pitch, and yaw axes. Flight 863 attempted to correct for the right drift by using roll, rather than yaw.
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then alerted the captain, who had since taken over flying the aircraft, to pull up to avoid striking the hill.
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after the problems with #3 engine and shouted 'airspeed' to the first officer to alert him to the potential
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United still uses Flight 863 for its transpacific service from San
Francisco to Sydney, but now using a
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1,319 feet (402 m) above sea level, excluding the television and radio towers on its summit.
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An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place either in a U.S. territory or at
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rises to a peak of 1,319 feet (402 m) in the background, excluding radio towers.
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Role of pilot lack of manual control proficiency in air transport aircraft accidents
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was forced to shut down one of its right-wing engines and nearly collided with
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681:. 6th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics.
406:"United 747's Near Miss Initiates A Widespread Review of Pilot Skills"
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624:"UA863 (UAL863) United Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware"
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flying United's regularly scheduled transpacific service from
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Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1998
518:"United pilot inexperienced in landings nearly crashed 747"
341:(in the middle of the picture) and their proximity to
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698:"OPINION: Do pilots have adequate flying skills?"
1537:Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 747
1542:Airliner accidents and incidents in California
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982:Lignes Aériennes Congolaises Boeing 727 crash
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575:"747 Just Missed San Bruno Mountain in June"
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485:: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
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862:Pakistan International Airlines Flight 544
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1239:American International Airways Flight 808
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333:This photograph, taken from a blimp over
286:: 5:39 am, 29 June). As it took off, the
604:. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
602:"Proficient pilot: Lazy-rudder syndrome"
320:cockpit voice and flight data recordings
1547:United Airlines accidents and incidents
1127:Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311
1074:Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2254
822:Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 727 crash
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266:to change pilot training requirements.
1333:Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529
1327:Air Transport International Flight 782
1168:Air Transport International Flight 805
1109:Ryan International Airlines Flight 590
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1562:June 1998 events in the United States
1557:History of the San Francisco Bay Area
1086:Wayne County Airport runway collision
992:Thai Airways International Flight 261
852:Occidental Petroleum Boeing 737 crash
7:
403:Carley, William M. (19 March 1999).
1567:San Francisco International Airport
1280:Fairchild Air Force Base B-52 crash
696:Atkinson, James F. (11 July 2013).
555:from the original on 25 August 2014
425:from the original on 8 January 2015
337:(foreground), shows the runways at
276:San Francisco International Airport
274:Flight 863 to Sydney departed from
252:San Francisco International Airport
160:San Francisco International Airport
91:San Francisco International Airport
47:San Francisco International Airport
524:. Associated Press. Archived from
467:. Aviation Safety Reporting System
14:
1339:Alaska Boeing E-3 Sentry accident
1227:China Eastern Airlines Flight 583
1215:Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 46E
748:Aviation accidents and incidents
661:
647:
549:"A High-Flying Brush With Death"
463:Flight Crew, UA863 (June 1998).
32:
1139:Continental Express Flight 2574
516:Johnson, Glen (20 March 1999).
324:ground proximity warning system
1186:GP Express Airlines Flight 861
832:Philippine Airlines Flight 137
1:
1491:Martha's Vineyard plane crash
1485:American Airlines Flight 1420
1345:American Airlines Flight 1572
1310:Flagship Airlines Flight 3379
1245:Northwest Airlink Flight 5719
1133:L'Express Airlines Flight 508
942:Cubana de Aviación Flight 389
872:MIAT Mongolian Airlines crash
669:San Francisco Bay Area portal
600:Schiff, Barry (5 June 1999).
1512:Naval Station Guantanamo Bay
1374:Eastwind Airlines Flight 517
1233:American Airlines Flight 102
812:Formosa Airlines Flight 7623
688:10.1016/j.promfg.2015.07.862
1410:New Hampshire Learjet crash
1404:Airborne Express Flight 827
1380:Delta Air Lines Flight 1288
1103:Los Angeles runway disaster
1080:Death of Stevie Ray Vaughan
1062:Northwest Airlines Flight 5
912:Proteus Airlines Flight 706
302:danger. At that point, the
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1497:South Dakota Learjet crash
1468:United Airlines Flight 863
1298:American Eagle Flight 4184
1274:Federal Express Flight 705
1262:United Express Flight 6291
1180:American Eagle Flight 5456
1115:United Airlines Flight 585
902:Indian Airlines Flight 503
892:United Airlines Flight 863
547:Orr, Bob (15 April 1999).
244:United Airlines Flight 863
27:United Airlines Flight 863
15:
1506:
1392:FedEx Express Flight 1406
1221:Alan Kulwicki plane crash
1001:
932:Myanma Airways Flight 635
802:China Airlines Flight 676
763:
282:on Sunday June 28, 1998 (
31:
1508:This list is incomplete.
1145:Vallejo helicopter crash
782:Cavalese cable car crash
296:knots indicated airspeed
16:Not to be confused with
1433:FedEx Express Flight 14
1398:Quincy Airport disaster
772:Cebu Pacific Flight 387
702:San Francisco Chronicle
677:Arnold, Robert (2015).
579:San Francisco Chronicle
522:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
411:The Wall Street Journal
922:Korean Air Flight 8702
346:
335:Burlingame, California
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23:1998 aviation incident
1439:Korean Air Flight 801
1162:CommutAir Flight 4821
842:Air France Flight 422
792:Sudan Air Force crash
332:
313:
89:, after takeoff from
18:Air Canada Flight 759
1209:Lufthansa Flight 592
962:PauknAir Flight 4101
345:(in the background).
1445:Fine Air Flight 101
1351:Tower Air Flight 41
1268:Green Ramp disaster
1121:Merion air disaster
1010:► 1999
1004:1997 ◄
952:Swissair Flight 111
528:on 17 December 2015
28:
1552:1998 in California
1427:Comair Flight 3272
1412:(December 24 1996)
1406:(December 22 1996)
1368:ValuJet Flight 592
1111:(February 17 1991)
1068:Avianca Flight 052
1007:
972:Lionair Flight 602
882:Propair Flight 420
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343:San Bruno Mountain
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260:San Bruno Mountain
242:On June 28, 1998,
102:Aircraft type
87:San Bruno Mountain
51:San Bruno Mountain
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1105:(February 1 1991)
1070:(January 25 1990)
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318:According to the
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1441:(August 6 1997)*
1394:(September 1996)
1341:(September 1995)
1294:(September 1994)
1292:USAir Flight 427
1174:USAir Flight 405
1141:(September 1991)
1064:(January 4 1990)
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581:. March 19, 1999
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1276:(April 1994)
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1176:(March 1992)
1117:(March 1991)
1082:(August 190)
1076:(April 1990)
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705:. Retrieved
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629:29 September
627:. Retrieved
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606:. Retrieved
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557:. Retrieved
551:. CBS News.
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530:. Retrieved
526:the original
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469:. Retrieved
465:"ACN 406810"
427:. Retrieved
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304:stick shaker
293:
278:at 10:39 pm
273:
243:
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147:Registration
1493:(July 1999)
1487:(June 1999)
1470:(June 1998)
1451:John Denver
1435:(July 1997)
1376:(June 1996)
1288:(July 1994)
1282:(June 1994)
1194:(July 1992)
1135:(July 1991)
491:Search for
188:, Australia
174:Destination
1526:Categories
1370:(May 1996)
707:13 January
608:13 January
559:13 January
532:13 January
471:13 January
429:13 January
378:References
217:Fatalities
201:Passengers
168:California
141:UNITED 863
59:Occurrence
585:22 August
419:0099-9660
358:Aftermath
233:Survivors
193:Occupants
138:Call sign
553:Archived
481:cite web
423:Archived
225:Injuries
112:Operator
97:Aircraft
752: (
750:in 1998
151:Unknown
72:Summary
988:Dec 11
978:Oct 10
968:Sep 29
958:Sep 25
938:Aug 29
928:Aug 24
908:Jul 30
898:Jul 30
888:Jun 28
878:Jun 18
868:May 26
858:May 25
838:Apr 20
828:Mar 22
818:Mar 19
808:Mar 18
798:Feb 16
788:Feb 12
417:
270:Flight
182:Sydney
133:UAL863
948:Sep 2
918:Aug 5
848:May 5
778:Feb 3
768:Feb 2
300:stall
125:UA863
75:Near-
1478:1999
1461:1998
1420:1997
1361:1996
1320:1995
1255:1994
1202:1993
1155:1992
1096:1991
1055:1990
754:1998
709:2017
631:2021
610:2017
587:2019
561:2017
534:2017
487:link
473:2017
431:2017
415:ISSN
246:, a
209:Crew
83:Site
77:CFIT
64:Date
683:doi
339:SFO
284:UTC
280:PST
254:to
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