United Air Lines Trip 23 (1937)
United Airlines Douglas DC-3 · On 9 February 1937, a Douglas DC-3 crashed on United Air Lines Trip 23 from Burbank via San Francisco to Oakland, killing all 11 occupants
From Hollywood Burbank/Bob Hope Airport (BUR) to Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK)
Event
- 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
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 11 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- 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
Douglas DC-3
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-3
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- 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
- NC16073
- Operator
- United Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 11
- Route
- From Hollywood Burbank/Bob Hope Airport (BUR)To Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK)
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Task environment
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
On 9 February 1937, a Douglas DC-3 crashed on United Air Lines Trip 23 from Burbank via San Francisco to Oakland, killing all 11 occupants. It was the first air accident involving a Douglas DC-3.
Course of events
After an uneventful cruise, the DC-3 was on its landing approach to San Francisco in good weather. At 20:44 the pilots gave the air traffic controller their position, less than 10 miles (16 km), and asked for the wind and the landing direction. He gave the wind as “practically calm” and requested a landing from south to north (runway 01). At 3 miles (5 km) the pilots decided they wanted to land on the east-west runway (runway 28), which was acknowledged and approved by the controller. This was the last radio contact between the pilots and the controller. Eyewitnesses observed the aircraft flying over the airport at a height of 400–500 ft (120–150 m) until it went into a gentle right turn. In an estimated 4 seconds the aircraft pitched down to 35–40° and struck San Francisco Bay with its right wing. The eyewitnesses disagreed as to whether the turn flown by the DC-3 was continuous or not.
Investigation and cause
Cause
Neither on the engines nor on the airframe nor in the control system were any signs of material fatigue or other damage prior to impact found. The sudden change of runway, while not comprehensible, did not indicate any problems. Even though the radio microphones in the positions where they were found in the cockpit did not suggest it, marks on De Cesaro's microphone, among others, showed that it had fallen down and become jammed between his seat and his control column. This resulted in a blocking of the elevators and a dive. Further marks also showed that the pilots probably noticed this, which is why they briefly eased off the control columns somewhat, so that the microphone became jammed in a new position. At the low altitude, a recovery in such a short time was impossible. In tests with other aircraft and other microphones, this scenario could be reproduced.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “United-Air-Lines-Trip 23 (1937)” (revision 261591166, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: United-Air-Lines-Trip 23 (1937)
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 261591166 · 2025-11-16 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q113374782
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- de Wikipedia article "United-Air-Lines-Trip 23 (1937)" (page 12325938, revision 261591166), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an airline in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.