The Nation - News from May 30, 1989

Federal safety officials investigated to determine what caused the landing gear on a Continental Airlines jet to fail, the second such incident in less than a week at Denver’s Stapleton Airport. The right landing gear on a Continental DC-9 collapsed after the jet landed Sunday night, sending 44 passengers scrambling down the emergency chutes. Two passengers were slightly injured. Continental spokesman Dave Messing said preliminary indications are that two tires blew out sometime after landing, causing the landing gear to collapse. The jet came to rest near the end of a runway, with its right wing touching the ground. Messing said the plane was probably about 5 years old. Last Wednesday, the left rear landing gear of an Atlanta-bound Delta Airlines Boeing 727 collapsed as the jet was being pushed back from a gate. Corrosion caused metal fatigue that led to the collapse, investigators said.