American Airlines Flight 191 May 25, 1979:

On the 29th anniversary of the Green Hornet streetcar disaster, Flight 191 at O'Hare Airport, became the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history.

At 3:02 p.m. an American Airlines DC 10 was cleared for take off. Two hundred seventy one people were aboard; the plane carried a full load of fuel. Immediately after takeoff, the No.1 engine on the port side of the plane fell off. The air traffic controller observing the flight radioed the pilot asking if he wanted a runway for a return. There was no response. About 30 seconds after take off, at an altitude of about 400 feet, the DC 10 rolled, dipping the wing that lost the engine. It hit the ground a half mile from the end of the runway and exploded, killing all on board and two people on the ground. According to the Chicago Tribune (5/26/79) "the flames that rose from a field northwest of the airport doubled the altitude the plane had reached."

The DC 10 was capable of flying on two engines if one of the three loses power. The Chicago Sun Times reported that the General Electric engines were so powerful that the plane could take off with only two engines operating. The situation changes "dramatically" if one engine falls off. The weight distribution, the aerodynamics, changes; that is, "the entire controllability of the plane" is lost. Capt. Robert Vogtretter, a United Airlines pilot said "there is no set procedure a pilot can take when an engine tears loose from a wing and falls off...in most cases recovery by the pilot is almost hopeless, particularly at take off." (5/26/79)

The vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Elwood Driver, centered his search for the cause of failure of the pylon that connected the engine to the wing on a "small, nacelle mounting bolt." He told the Tribune that the pylon was found among the plane's wreckage, but of six connecting bolts, one was missing.

The official NTSB report stated that "contributing to the cause of the accident were the vulnerability of the design of the pylon attach points to maintenance damage; the vulnerability of the design of the leading edge slat system to the damage which produced asymmetry: deficiencies in FAA surveillance and reporting systems which failed to detect and prevent the use of improper maintenance procedures; deficiencies in the practices and communications among operators, the manufacturer, and the FAA which failed to determine or disseminate the particulars regarding previous maintenance damage incidents; and the intolerance of prescribed operational procedures to this unique emergency."

On May 27, 1979 an article appeared on page 2 of the Chicago Sun Times under the headline "100 Million in Lawsuits Estimated".

Last Updated: June 09, 1999