ConcordeBoy

For those of you who may not immediately recall: AA191 was where a DC10 departing O'Hare literally lost an engine upon takeoff, rolled over, and crashed into a trailer park.

I write this in memory to the 273 who died that day, in what still remains the USA's most deadly aircraft accident even now, 30yrs to the day later.

RIP

TrojanHorse

I don't recall it but thanks for posting

elitetraveler

It was due to improper maintenance.

Cofyknsult

I do recall... a botched procedure by AA for the removal of the engine on the right wing had led to a weakening and crooked installation of the nacelle on the wing pylon.

Accidents lead to tech improvements, though. The MD 11 had a shorter pylon to hold the engine under the wing, thus creating less torque. For those of you who remember, the DC 10 side engines were very far ahead of the wing leading edge and were kept in flow by tiny winglets protruding from the nacelle. The Lockheed L 1011 was a far better conceived airplane than its twin look alike.. and far fewer were built.

Cofyknsult

I think that Panam' s 747 in Tenerife, colliding with a KLM 747 taking off may have been even deadlier... but of course in those times... "Panam made the going great..."

2millionquest

Deleted

hiltonlondon2009

Thanks for sharing this.

I can't help but be amazed at how far technology today has advanced. Technology that has made landing in the Hudson possible, technology that has made landing a broken plane in Turkey a reality, and many, many other countless advancements that have continued to make air travel the safest mode of transportation.

TrojanHorse

i'll be curious in another 30 years as to how far we will have come; I will guess the improvement curve will be much less (barring some new technology that is light years ahead of the curve) but none the less it should be even way safer.. the bad part is somewhere there will be a few incidents that create these improvements

ILuvParis

Wow, didn't realize it was that long ago or at this time of the year. It was a very scary day. Thanks for the reminder.

onthewineroute

I attended a high school that was probably less than three miles from the accident scene. We were outside, on the athletic fields, during a PE class when we heard that same rumble. The adjacent forest preserve blocked the view of the fireball but the black cloud became clearly visible shortly thereafter as it drifted eastward.

The thing that I remember the most are the sirens, non stop.....Every emergeny vehicle from the neighboring communities had been dispatched and all you heard for what seemed like several hours was sirens. The worst part about that was that despite the presence of a huge brigade of transport vehicles waiting to take people to area hospitals and with every emergency room on high alert, no one showed up.

Yes, I remember that day....

SFO777

Thanks so much 2millionquest for your poignant recollection of that terrible day. I was living in Chicago at the time, working in the loop with a northwest view and will always remember that day.

LoneStarMike

This website mentions ghosts from the crash at both the trailer park near the crash site and in the terminal itself.

bbkenney

Tenerife's not in the USA.

Thanks for the memory, CB.

rahmanbar

I always recalled how comfortable I found the DC-10 as well as it's ability to manuever, increase torque etc at the drop of a hat.. As far as that last part goes, I well remember once coming into an approach for JFK, and suddencly the p9lot "floored", explaining later on that runway clearance given by the tower was premature and another aircraft had not cleared.

Very vivid inasmuch as those were the days on the "10s", that American provided birds-eye view or landings and takeoffs from a special nose-camera (featured it in ads).

One can only imagine the horror experienced by a passenger watching his/her takeoff that day in Chicago.

SeeBuyFly

Friends have told me about a scientific conference they were attending in Lake Geneva. Two of their colleagues skipped out early and got on a flight home one day early (non-same-day standby was not a problem in those days). Of course, both died.

My only personal experience related to this accident was that a few days later I was returning to Chicago from EWR. The plane was a DC-10; I don't remember the airline. Old hands will remember that the planes had the capability of tuning into broadcast channels and projecting them onto the screens when the plane was on the ground. When we landed in Chicago they put the news on and the headline was that all DC-10s had been grounded. Passengers applauded.