Boeing B-737-500 incident near San Francisco, California, October 29, 1995
On October 29, 1995 at about 8:49 pm local time, a Boeing B-737-500, registered N904UA, was involved in an incident near San Francisco, California. It was a flight of an unrecorded kind under general aviation rules (Part 91). No one was hurt; 3 people were on board or involved. The weather was instrument conditions (cloud, fog or low visibility).
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The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The inadvertant stall for undertermined reasons.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 4, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- October 29, 1995 · about 8:49 pm local time
- Place
- San Francisco, California
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 3 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- instrument conditions (cloud, fog or low visibility)
- Aircraft
- Boeing B-737-500
- Registration
- N904UA · registry record
- Damage
- Not recorded
- Flight
- Flight of an unrecorded kind · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
On October 29, 1995, at 1239 PST, a United Airlines Boeing 737-500, N904UA, experienced an upset during a maintenence test flight while on an ILS approach to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The upset occurred when the flight crew was given a go-around by approach control and the captain selected the takeoff and go-around switch. The airplane pitched up to about 45 degrees nose up and the stick shaker activated. The pilots stated that they pushed the control column forward and both attempted to retrim the nose down but were not able to overcome the increase in pitch. The airplane stalled, rolled slightly, and the nose dropped. After the flightcrew recovered from the upset, the airplane made a normal landing at SFO.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Medical certificate: Unknown
- Seat: unk
The aircraft
- Last inspection: inspection type not recorded
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: (type not recorded); 0 hours total
- Not recorded
- Operator: United Airlines
The flight
- Departed from: SFO
- Flight plan: VFR then IFR
- Runway 0
Weather at the time
- Light: not reported
- Visibility: 3 statute miles
- Sky: overcast at 800 ft
- Temperature: 57°F (14°C), dew point 54°F (12°C)
- Altimeter: 29.00 inHg
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 3 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database: the narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words, and the coded tables behind its report (pilot, aircraft, flight, weather, injuries, sequence of events) are written out in plain English. Pilots' ages, home towns and medical details are left out on purpose. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, the folder of records gathered during the investigation, shown as the NTSB released them (the NTSB redacts some personal details first) and listed under the NTSB's own titles. This site's own text never names pilots, passengers or anyone else involved. A preliminary report describes what is known soon after the event and can change; the final report, with the probable cause, usually follows one to two years later and this page is refreshed when it does. Case number DCA96IA005.