United Airlines Flight 227 Crash: The Disaster at SLC

It’s fascinating (and sometimes heartbreaking) how time buries certain tragic events. Occasionally, I stumble across them while digging through old newspaper archives or scanning death certificates for unrelated research. That’s how I found a startling entry on November 11, 1965; instead of the usual 15-20 daily death records, I discovered 52—all tied to a single, catastrophic event: the United Airlines Flight 227 crash at Salt Lake City International Airport.

That’s exactly what happened when I came across November 11, 1965. I was sifting through Utah death records, expecting the usual 15 to 20 names—but on that day, there were 52. Something catastrophic had happened. It didn’t take long to trace them all back to a single event—a plane crash so violent that 43 people never made it out alive.

Flight 227: A Routine Trip Turns to Disaster

United Airlines Flight 227, a Boeing 727, left New York’s LaGuardia Airport that morning, making stops along the way to its final destination in San Francisco. By the time it reached Denver, nothing was out of the ordinary. The flight crew changed, the passengers stretched their legs, and then the plane continued west.

At 5:47 p.m., Salt Lake City air traffic control cleared the plane for landing.

At 5:52 p.m., Flight 227 slammed into the ground 335 feet short of the runway, broke apart, and erupted into a fireball.

But what makes this crash especially chilling is that the initial impact was survivable. What came next is what killed most of the passengers.

The Crash: A Chain of Bad Decisions

As Flight 227 approached Salt Lake City International Airport, air traffic control asked the crew to confirm their speed and altitude. The reply?

“250 knots at 10,000 feet.”

At first glance, this seemed normal. But it wasn’t. The plane was descending at over 2,300 feet per minute—three times the recommended descent rate. That should have been a massive red flag. And yet, the captain didn’t correct it. The First Officer, Philip Spicer, tried to apply power to slow the descent. Captain Kehmeier stopped him and told him to wait. Thirty seconds later, the captain finally tried to add power—but by then, it was too late.

At 5:52 p.m., Flight 227 hit the ground at full speed, bounced once, and skidded for nearly 3,000 feet before coming to a violent stop. The landing gear and an engine ripped free, severing a fuel line inside the fuselage. Sparks from the impact ignited the fuel, and the aircraft erupted into an inferno.

The cabin filled with thick, toxic smoke. Passengers scrambled for the exits. Some made it. Many didn’t.

Survival and Tragedy: The Human Cost

Out of 91 people onboard, 43 died—but not because of the crash itself.

The Civil Aeronautics Board would later state something truly haunting:

“There were no traumatic injuries that would have precluded escape.”

Most of the victims could have survived—if not for the fire and smoke. When emergency responders arrived, they found bodies piled in the aisles—people who had almost made it but were overtaken by flames before reaching an exit. Among the victims was Bill Linderman, a champion rodeo cowboy, who had unknowingly left behind an eerie final message. Hours before the crash, he cashed a check at Denver’s Pig ’n Whistle restaurant and, in the space for his address, wrote just one word: “Heaven.” It had been a joke at the time, but by nightfall, it became a chilling premonition. In the end, the remains were removed in 40 separate body bags.

Survivor Testimonies:

Marvin Bennett, a missionary returning home from Colombia, tried to unbuckle his 6-year-old daughter, Rosa. Before he could free her, a fireball from a ruptured oxygen line engulfed them. Another passenger, Nad Brown, saved Bennett’s life, dragging him from the flames—but Rosa along with his wife Janet, and other daughter Maria was lost.

Shigelakia Shimura, a Japanese scientist, survived because he was already unbuckled at the time of impact, allowing him to escape before the flames consumed the cabin.

A young Air Force member survived, but the two friends sitting next to him didn’t.

Entire families were wiped out in seconds—including the Blaisdell family, who were traveling together that night.

When emergency responders arrived, they found bodies piled in the aisles—people who had almost made it but were overtaken by flames before reaching an exit. The remains were removed in 40 separate body bags.

What Went Wrong? The Captain’s Troubling History

The official cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error—specifically, Captain Kehmeier’s failure to arrest the plane’s descent in time. But what investigators found about Kehmeier’s past is even more unsettling. This was not a case of an experienced pilot making an unfortunate mistake. Captain Kehmeier should never have been flying that night.

His training record was riddled with failures, poor evaluations, and second chances he never should have received:

• 1960: He failed his DC-8 transition training due to poor judgment and inability to follow standard procedures.
• 1961: After being removed from jets, he was reassigned to the DC-6, where he was rated “average to above average.”
• 1962: He was given another chance in the Boeing 720, but his type rating was delayed because he needed extra training.
• 1964: He failed an instrument proficiency check. He only passed on a second attempt, two days later.
• 1965: His final Boeing 727 flight check was described as “below average.” The FAA examiner noted he had to be reminded to stay on altitude and airspeed—basic piloting skills.

And yet, despite these red flags, he was still allowed to command a jetliner. Had anyone in the chain of command acted on these concerns, Flight 227 never would have crashed.

The Aftermath: How Flight 227 Changed Aviation

The crash of Flight 227 was a wake-up call, forcing the FAA to overhaul pilot training and safety regulations in a big way. One of the most critical changes came in how pilots were trained to handle landings. Before, recognizing and correcting a dangerously fast descent wasn’t always emphasized enough. After the crash, that changed. Pilots had to go through extensive training to spot and fix high-rate descents before it was too late. The goal? Make sure they could pull up in time, preventing another disaster.

Additionally, the FAA cracked down on who was actually qualified to be in the captain’s seat. The minimum experience hours for captains were increased, making sure only the most seasoned pilots were in command. More importantly, they also addressed a long-standing issue: first officers—co-pilots—were often expected to defer to the captain, even if they saw something wrong. After Flight 227, first officers were given more authority to question a captain’s decisions, pushing for a culture where safety came before seniority.

Fire safety got a major overhaul, too. Better fire suppression systems became mandatory, aiming to prevent post-crash fires from turning survivable accidents into deadly infernos. Fuel lines, which had proven dangerously vulnerable, were redesigned to be stronger and less likely to rupture on impact.

But beyond the new regulations, Flight 227 left behind some haunting questions. How many warning signs does it take before someone is deemed unfit to fly? How many second chances is too many? For 43 people, those questions weren’t answered soon enough.

Final Thoughts: A Preventable Tragedy

The story of United Airlines Flight 227 isn’t just about a plane crash. It’s about a series of ignored warnings, an unfit captain, and a fire that should never have happened. The truth is, this wasn’t just an accident. It was a disaster waiting to happen. And 43 people paid the price.

List of Flight 227 Victims:

Sources & References:

1. Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Official Report on UAL Flight 227

2. FAA Lessons Learned Database

3. Survivor Testimonies from the Idaho State Journal

4. Aviation Safety Network Database

5. Historical News Clippings (Salt Lake Tribune, Ogden Standard-Examiner)