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American Airlines has been taking it on the chin in recent weeks, from having their flights grounded for inspections to their announcement this week that they're charging an extra fee for luggage to make up for rising fuel prices. This week, we revisit one of the more tragic moments in American Airlines history.
Twenty-nine years ago Sunday, American Airlines Flight 191, en route to Los Angeles, crashed shortly after takeoff from O'Hare. The crash killed all 271 passengers aboard and two people on the ground. Right after takeoff, the number one engine on the port (left) wing fell off the DC-10 jumbo jet, crashing to the runway. As the pilots tried to recover from this and land the plane, they found out that the dropped engine caused hydraulic lines on the wing to sever. That engine also provided electricity to the captain's instruments - specifically, the stall warning, slats disagreement, and stick shaker, which are only available to the captain. They had no idea of the plane's configuration on the port side.
As the slats retracted on the left wing, the stall speed on that wing rose to 160 knots. The starboard (right) wing, still providing lift for stalling speed, went into a 112-degree uncontrollable left bank and crashed in a field 4600 feet from the northwest runway at 3:04 p.m. The unused jet fuel exploded upon impact, sending a plume of smoke visible from the Loop.
The crash was the deadliest plane crash on American soil until the September 11th, 2001 attacks. (Wikipedia, Gendisasters, eSsortment)
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May 25th, 1979 is a day I'll never forget. My family moved into a high rise that day, and from our window, you could see the smoke still rising up from O'Hare.
I remember the chilling black box recording:
"Flight 191, would you want to land, and if so, which runway would you like?"
"Damn."
BTW, Larry Fink Memorial Park in Highland Park was dedicated to a young man killed in that crash.
I was in 2nd grade when that tragedy occurred. I remember walking home from school in Arlington Heights and seeing the smoke. It was awful and made me scared to get on a plane.
I remember that as well. I was living in California at the time but we were back here visiting my dad. I was too young to remember everything about that day.
What I can tell you is to this day this is the only flight I ever missed.
I had never heard about this (born in 1984), and now I'm going to be nervous for my weekly ORD -> LAX flights every Monday morning.
Was this the crash that ended up behind a mobile home park? Right next to the Kennedy Expressway?
The Trib ran a letter on Friday from a guy who wrongly wrote that it was a United flight that crashed.
The Trib must have pulled it from their website out of embarrassment that none of their editors caught the mistake & ran a correction on P2 of Saturday's paper.
@happygrl, you took the words out of my mouth. I was in 3rd grade, and was staying after school for cub scouts, then the news came in, we could see the smoke in the distance. This was in Glen Ellyn.
...chills....
I took my first flight ever (I was 3) 3 days after that crash. From O'Hare. On a DC-10. I of course don't have much of a memory of that, but apparently my mom and grandmother were extremely nervous and almost canceled the trip...