The World - News from May 8, 1988
A fuel valve malfunction led to the failure of three engines aboard a United Airlines Boeing 747 over the Pacific Ocean, the airline said after checking the plane. Flight 97 from Los Angeles, with 258 aboard, landed safely Monday at Narita Airport near Tokyo on only one engine, with more than an hour’s fuel left in the tanks. Rob Doughty, a United spokesman in Chicago, said the engines’ failure was caused by the malfunction of a crossfeed valve that directs fuel from the five main and two reserve fuel tanks. But he said tests showed no problem with the alternative, or backup, system for channeling fuel to the engines.
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