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Continental Air Boeing 737-200 incident

3 Jan 1987 · Newark, NJ, United States

Boeing 737-200 · Incident: airframe, component or system failure during landing

From Norfolk International Airport (ORF) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)

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Event

NTSB case
NYC87IA087
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Incident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Boeing 737-200

Aircraft type
Boeing 737
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N409PE
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Norfolk International Airport (ORF), Norfolk, VATo Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Newark, NJ
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 121: Air Carrier
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Landing · landing roll
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Airframe, component or system failure
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
None

Cause areas

  • Auxiliary power unit › Inoperative
  • Fire warning system › False indication

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Newark, NJ, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

DURING DESCENT PRIOR TO THE APPROACH TO NEWARK, NJ THE B737 CREW ATTEMPTED TO START THE APU. THE APU FAILED TO START. DURING LNDG ROLL ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO START THE APU RESULTED IN A FIRE WARNING LIGHT. THE FIRE BOTTLE WAS DISCHARGED BUT THE FIRE WARNING REMAINED ILLUMINATED. THE CAPT ORDERED AN EVACUATION WHILE PARKED ON A TAXIWAY. SOME PASSENGERS EXITED THRU THE OVERWING EXIT ON THEIR OWN. SOME OF THESE PASSENGERS WERE INJURED GETTING OFF ON THE WING. INSPECTION OF THE APU REVEALED NO FIRE DAMAGE. POST ACC TEST RESULTS SHOWED THAT THE UNIT HAD TURBINE BLADES BURNED AND ERODED, FUEL CONTROL CRACKING PRESSURE SET HIGHER THAN SPECIFIED, AND THE ELECTRICAL HARNESS WIRES TO THE FUEL SOLENOID CONNECTOR WERE REVERSED.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC87IA087
Event ID
20001213X30142
Case number
NYC87IA087
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (5)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status, damage. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1987-01-04.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 007f80eb28e4e06dc47f8c5fa8c362fdf8ad29e80b032f2a76c6670fda82bec3; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:44:45.468Z.
  • The NTSB's operator name is blank for N409PE; the operator shown is the name the NTSB records it doing business as.