United Airlines Flight 173 was a Douglas DC-8 en route from Denver to Portland International Airporton December 28, 1978. When the landing gear was lowered, only two of the green landing gear indicator lights came on.The plane circled in the vicinity of Portland while the crew investigated the problem. After about an hour the plane ran out of fuel and crashed in a sparsely populated area near 158th and East Burnside, killing 10 and seriously injuring 24 of the 189 on board the aircraft.
A United Airlines Douglas DC-8-61, similar to Flight 173
I remember that there was a prisoner being transported on this plane. After aiding several of the other passengers to escape the danger of the crashed plane, he then escaped himself!
my recollection was we hopped in car to drive over as we were pretty close…we took some pics too…then next day returned and there was a young boy who actually lived right next door to where the plane went down…for $10 would take a viewer’s camera in for a much closer shot (s)….wonder what kind of work that kid is in today??