American Airlines Flight 191

The American Airlines Flight 191 best refers to the accident that occurred on May 25, 1979, which is one of maintenance-related failures in aviation.

Description

The deadliest aviation accident in the United States happened on May 25, 1979. The American Airlines, Inc., Flight 191, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10-10 aircraft, crashed into an open field about 4,600 ft northwest of the departure end of runway 32R at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, Illinois.

Eight weeks before the disaster, the last repair of the plane damaged the overhead engine tower installed on the plane. The crash was found to be the result of a shortcut taken by removing the plane's engines for maintenance, cracking an aluminum component which held the engine to the wing.

In order to save more than 200 hours of maintenance time and money, the engine and the "dragon" (Pylon, suspended structure) between the engine and wings removed and put together all night just back, so that in the Pylon and cracks caused by the wing joint area. This was a violation of DC-10-10 design original McDonnell Douglas maintenance procedures.

When the American Airlines Flight 191 took off from O'Hare, the engine fell off the plane and landed on the runway, cutting off the electrical system and spilling hydraulic oil. Because of the airplane design, the pilots couldn't see the wing and didn't realize they were losing liquid oil. While being unaware of the real situation, the pilots carried out the wrong handling procedures. The damaged left has stalled, the plane dived and crashed, killing 273 people on the board and two people on the ground.

It was the fourth fatal crash on the DC-10 since its inception, with 622 people killed in all four DC-10 crashes.

Report

The complete report is published on ntsb.gov/investigations. The FAA report is published on faa.gov/about/initiatives