What was the name of the October 1989 stock-market plunge linked to a failed United Airlines buyout?

The October 1989 stock-market plunge linked to a failed United Airlines buyout was the Friday the 13th mini-crash.

On Friday, October 13, 1989, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 190.58 points, then its second-largest one-day point decline. The immediate trigger was the collapse of a leveraged buyout proposal for United Airlines’ parent company. The failure raised concern about highly leveraged acquisitions and the ability of investment banks to finance them.

The fall occurred in a market already affected by worries about interest rates, corporate debt, and the recent strength of share prices. Because it was smaller and shorter than the 1987 crash, commentators commonly called it a mini-crash. The market recovered part of the loss soon afterward.

The episode is easy to confuse with Friday the 13th events in other markets. Its identifying features are the 1989 date, the failed United Airlines transaction, and the sharp but brief decline in United States stocks.