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The dark landing-gear light that hid how fast fuel leaked
A dark landing-gear light strands a fully fueled DC‑8 over Portland as crew debate fuel levels - did they make it back before the tanks ran dry?
The dark landing-gear light that hid how fast fuel leaked
In this episode, we follow United Airlines Flight 173’s final hour: a landing-gear indicator that never lit, a crew running checklists, and a holding pattern that turned routine into crisis. The episode lays out what happened in the cockpit and asks whether the crew’s decisions and communications saved the flight in time.
Date: December 28, 1978
Flight: United Airlines Flight 173
Aircraft…
The skinny
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