I noticed that the number-one engine was bouncing up and down quite a bit and just about the time the aircraft got opposite my position and started rotation, the engine came off, went up over the top of the wing, and rolled back down onto the runway. : 2 Robert Graham, supervisor of maintenance for American Airlines, stated:Īs the aircraft got closer, I noticed what appeared to be vapor or smoke of some type coming from the leading edge of the wing and the number-one engine pylon. The combined unit flipped over the top of the wing and landed on the runway. On the accident flight, just as the aircraft reached takeoff speed, the number-one engine and its pylon assembly separated from the left wing, ripping away a 3-foot (0.9 m) section of the leading edge with it. Accident Crash site of American Airlines Flight 191 Between them, they had 1,830 hours of flying experience in the DC-10. : 75 First Officer James Dillard (age 49) and Flight Engineer Alfred Udovich (age 56) were also highly experienced: they had 9,275 hours and 15,000 hours, respectively. He was also qualified to pilot 17 other aircraft, including the DC-6, the DC-7, and the Boeing 727. He had logged around 22,000 flying hours, of which about 3,000 were in a DC-10. : 76 Flight crew Ĭaptain Walter Lux (age 53) had been flying the DC-10 since its introduction eight years earlier.
On the day of the accident, in violation of standard procedure, the records were not removed from the aircraft and were destroyed in the accident. A review of the aircraft's flight logs and maintenance records showed that no mechanical discrepancies were noted for May 11, 1979. The aircraft was powered by three General Electric CF6-6D engines, one on each wing and one on the vertical stabilizer. It was delivered on February 25, 1972, and, at the time of the crash, it had logged just under 20,000 hours of flying time over seven years.
The aircraft involved in the accident was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 registered as N110AA. Background Aircraft N110AA, the aircraft involved in the accident, photographed at O'Hare five years prior The engine separation was attributed to damage to the pylon structure holding the engine to the wing, caused by improper maintenance procedures at American Airlines. The disrupted and unbalanced aerodynamics of the aircraft caused it to roll abruptly to the left until it was partially inverted, reaching a bank angle of 112°, before crashing in an open field by a trailer park near the end of the runway.
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As the aircraft began to climb, the damaged left wing-with no engine-produced far less lift than the right wing, which had its slats still deployed and its engine providing full takeoff thrust. Aerodynamic forces acting on the wing resulted in an uncommanded retraction of the outboard slats. As the engine separated from the aircraft, it severed hydraulic fluid lines that lock the wing's leading-edge slats in place and damaged a 3-foot (0.9 m) section of the left wing's leading edge. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that, as the aircraft was beginning its takeoff rotation, engine number one (the left engine) separated from the left wing, flipping over the top of the wing and landing on the runway. With 273 fatalities, it is the deadliest aviation accident to have occurred in the United States. All 258 passengers and 13 crew on board were killed, along with two people on the ground. On the afternoon of May 25, 1979, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 operating this flight was taking off from runway 32R at O'Hare when its left engine detached from the wing, causing a loss of control, and the aircraft crashed less than one mile (1.6 km) from the end of the runway. Loss of control caused by engine detachment and hydraulic failure, due to improper maintenance Ĥ2☀′35″N 87★5′45″W / 42.00972°N 87.92917°W / 42.00972 -87.92917 ( accident site) Īmerican Airlines Flight 191 was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight in the United States from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles International Airport in California. Flight 191 after takeoff, missing its left engine and leaking fuel and hydraulic fluid
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