40 years ago today: AA191 DC-10 Crash at ORD May 25, 1979

[GGD]

Caused by a "shortcut" in a maintenance procedure.

As the three-engine McDonnell Douglas DC-10 accelerated down the runway, reaching takeoff speed, the left engine broke away, vaulting over the aircraft’s wing. The pilots heard a thunk.

“Damn,” one of the pilots said.

It would be the last word captured by the cockpit voice recorder.

The plane continued to rise, its wings level, despite the nearly 13,500 pounds suddenly missing from its left side. But as it reached 300 feet, the plane slowed and rolled left until it began to overturn, its nose tipping down.

After just 31 seconds of flight, the plane plunged back to earth, killing all the passengers and 13 crew members on board.

...

https://graphics.chicagotribune.com/flig...niversary/

[Ombligo]

Thank you.

Excellent articles.

[SDGuy]

couldn't help but notice this ironic tidbit in the article:
"Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate whose niece died in the March 10 Max crash in Ethiopia..."

[mrlynn]

The DC-10 had other problems. In 1989 United Airlines Flight 232 from Denver to Chicago had the fan disk of the tail-mounted engine disintegrate, and the shrapnel severed all three of the plane's hydraulic systems, leaving the pilots no way to manage the flight-control surfaces. The two pilots, with the aid of a third pilot flying as a passenger who was also an instructor, managed to direct the plane by varying the thrust of the two remaining engines and make an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa. They couldn't control the descent angle and speed, so the aircraft broke apart on landing. However, 185 of the 296 passengers and crew survived, thanks to the skill of the pilots:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Air...Flight_232

I met one of the survivors, a member of the bluegrass band Hot Rize, Pete Wernick, who with his wife and young son, made it out of the plane, which helped to keep the event in my mind. From a list of survivors:

Pete Wernick - Prominent banjo player with the Hot Rize bluegrass band and instructor, was on his way to a festival in the Albany, New York area. Wernick walked away from the crash with his young son, and along with his wife, they took a later flight to go to the festival. He gave his personal account of the day's events in the song, "A Day in '89 (You Never Know)". Wernick has yet to release a recording of the song, but has published the lyrics on his website.

/Mr Lynn

[steveroberts]

I lost a family friend on that flight. Rodney Simmons RIP...