"Airline Crash Kills 273 People" was just one of the many headlines following the most deadly airline crash on US soil. What started off as a routine, daily flight between Chicago's O'Hare Airport and the Los Angeles Airport in California, ended in a horrific accident that killed 271 people on board and 2 residents who lived near the airport. There were also some who were injured by the flying debris from the crash.
The day was May 25, 1979. It was a clear and beautifully sunny day. There was a slight breeze blowing. The flight had been cleared for takeoff at 15:02. This appeared to be a normal takeoff. There was nothing out of the ordinary until the plane reached its takeoff speed.
That is when disaster struck. The pylon which was holding the number one engine to the wing of the plane broke off. Unbeknown to the pilots it had ripped a 3 foot section of the wing off. The plane had lost a portion of the wing and the engine. They were lying on the runway out of the view of the pilot and crew.
Since they were already at takeoff speed they continued take off procedures. They were aware that number one engine had failed, but there were back up systems to compensate for that problem. The control tower did not alert there was more to the problem.
When the engine failed it ruined the number one hydraulic system. The number three system had also been damaged and was losing a lot of fuel. When the engine fell off it took the compressor that operated the number 1 power bus., causing all of he captain's instrument panel to go offline. There were several back up and safety options that still could have kept the plane safely flying. The biggest problem is that the plane lifted 350 feet into the air, lost the engine and rolled, plunging it into the ground of an open field, all of which happened in about 50 seconds.
Even with all of the safety options available and in place, the wreck happened so fast that they couldn't be employed. All of this from the fact that the communication lines between the pilot and air traffic controllers failed due to human error.
Upon impact huge pieces of aircraft debris were flung into a trailer park in the area. There were 5 trailers, several cars, and an old aircraft hangar was destroyed. There was huge fireball that was caused by the leaking jet fuel. The smoke from this fire could been seen 17 miles away as the fire destroyed a lot of evidence, as well as the flight crew and passengers of Flight 191.
In the end the cause of the accident was improper maintenance procedures that were used by American Airlines. Many DC10 planes were grounded and later changed to transport planes. Not because of safety issues, but because there are now better and more efficient planes for passenger travel.
Don't let this happen to you with your remote control plane. Look out for others on the ground and in the sky. Best flying wishes.
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