United Airlines Flight 585 was a scheduled passenger flight on March 3, 1991, from Denver to Colorado Springs, Colorado, carrying 20 passengers and 5 crew members. The Boeing 737-200 experienced a rudder hardover while on final approach to runway 35 at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, causing the plane to roll over and enter an uncontrolled dive. All on board died on impact. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was initially unable to resolve the cause of the crash, but after similar accidents and incidents involving Boeing 737 aircraft, including the fatal crash of USAir Flight 427, the crash was determined to be caused by a defect in the design of the 737's rudder power control unit which caused the rudder to work in the opposite direction.
Background
Aircraft Flight 585 was operated by a Boeing 737-291, registered as N999UA with serial number 22742. It was manufactured in May 1982 for Frontier Airlines, and was acquired by United Airlines on June 6, 1986, when the former went out of business (a new airline company with the same name formed eight years later). On the date of the accident, the aircraft had logged 26,050 flight hours in 19,734 takeoff and landing cycles.
Crew In command was Captain Harold Green, aged 52. Green was hired by United Airlines on May 15, 1969, and had logged 9,902 hours as a United Airlines pilot (including 1,732 hours on the Boeing 737), and was regarded by colleagues as a conservative pilot who always followed standard operating procedures. The first officer was Patricia Eidson, aged 42. Eidson was hired by UAL on November 21, 1988, and had logged 3,903 flight hours (including 1,077 hours on the Boeing 737). On February 25, 1991, the aircraft was flying at 10,000 feet (3,000 m) when the rudder abruptly deflected 10 degrees to the right. The crew on board reduced power and the aircraft returned to normal flight. A similar event occurred two days later. Four days later, the aircraft crashed.
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