American Airlines Flight 191
| American Airlines Flight 191 | |
|---|---|
 The crash site next to a trailer park |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Engine stall |
| place | Chicago |
| date | May 25, 1979 |
| Fatalities | 271 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Fatalities on the ground | 2 |
| Injured on the ground | 2 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas DC-10 |
| operator | American Airlines |
| Mark | N110AA |
| Departure airport | Chicago O'Hare International Airport |
| Destination airport | Los Angeles International Airport |
| Passengers | 258 |
| crew | 13 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
American Airlines Flight 191 ( Flight number : AA191) was a scheduled flight of American Airlines from Chicago to Los Angeles . On May 25, 1979 this route was flown by a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 with the aircraft registration N110AA . The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 271 occupants on board and two people on the ground. To date, it is the most serious aircraft accident in the USA with a machine. The number of victims was only exceeded in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 .
accident
The flight started at O'Hare Airport in Chicago and was scheduled to end at Los Angeles International Airport in about four hours . The aircraft had 258 passengers and 13 crew members on board. The cockpit crew consisted of the experienced captain Walter Lux, the first officer James Dillard and the flight engineer Alfred Udovich. At 3:02 p.m. local time, the pilots were given permission to take off Runway 32R.
After about 1,100 meters, the aircraft's nose landing gear lifted off the ground. Shortly before the final take-off, the air traffic controllers in the tower were able to observe how engine no. 1 (left) detached itself from the wing, flew over it and then fell onto the runway. At first the aircraft stayed in a coordinated climb until it reached an altitude of just over 100 meters. Meanwhile it pulled a streak of leaking kerosene behind it. Such an incident would not necessarily have led to a crash with a DC-10 , since both the center of gravity was still within the permissible range and, on the other hand, the mechanical damage to the wing nose was so small that a safe landing would have been possible if the engine had not stalled would have caused other damage, especially to the hydraulic systems. However, subsequent flight simulator tests showed that only pilots who were prepared for the situation were able to bring the aircraft back under control.
The pilots tried to reduce the speed from 310 km / h to the 285 km / h intended for such a case, but the hydraulic lines in the left wing were damaged by the demolition . In addition, engine # 1 normally powered the master's instruments; the lack of it meant that such important displays as the stall warning system , the display of the position of the slats and the vibration alarm at the steering wheel (“stick shaker”) failed. All of these warnings were not yet displayed on the copilot's page at the time, which meant that in this case the pilots did not know what exactly had happened and how badly the aircraft was damaged. The crew was not even aware of the lack of the engine, as this could not be seen from the cockpit.
Due to the damage to the wing, large amounts of hydraulic fluid flowed out in a short time , with the result that the slats inserted themselves due to the falling hydraulic pressure on the left wing . Thus the demolition speed of this one wing of the DC-10 increased by about 60 km / h to more than 290 km / h. When the pilots reduced speed, the right wing, which was still correctly configured, continued to provide enough lift , while the flow on the left stalled. As a result, the aircraft tilted 112 ° to the left and, having become uncontrollable, fell about 1.5 km from the end of the runway near a trailer park into a field ( 42 ° 0 ′ 35 ″ N , 87 ° 55 ′ 45 ″ W ). Upon impact, the plane went up in flames and broke apart. All 271 people on board were killed. The explosion was so strong that it could even be seen from central Chicago. The trailer park was largely spared from the actual crash. However, some aircraft debris hit several mobile homes , killing two residents and seriously injuring two more.
Because the voice recorder in the cockpit was also supplied with power by engine no. 1, shortly before the end of the recording it only recorded one ... "Damn" ... (German: ... "Damn" ...) from one of the pilots, then nothing more . The tower radioed AA191 when they saw the engine tear down: “Alright American 191 heavy,… You wanna come back? ... and on what runway? "..." He's not talking to me "... (German:" Ok, American (Flug) 191 heavy , ... Do you want to turn back? ... on which runway? "..." He's not talking me" …). The “standby” (Eng .: “hold”) replied by the first officer was intended to indicate to the air traffic controllers that the cockpit crew was busy correcting the error and had no time for an answer. This was the last sign of life from the cockpit.
Investigations by the NTSB
The result of the investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was published on December 21, 1979. It said that the cause of the accident was likely to be traced back to damage to the engine mounts that occurred during an engine replacement during previous maintenance work at Tulsa International Airport (Oklahoma). The engine carrier was damaged because it had not been properly dismantled. Correctly, the engine should first have been removed from its carrier, and then from the wing; but to save time and money, the American Airlines mechanics were instructed to remove the engine and carrier at the same time. Joe Leonhard, later chairman of AirTran , was head of the maintenance department of American Airlines at the time and had agreed to this procedure. A large forklift was used to hold the engine while it was dismantled from the wing along with its carrier. When a shift change came up during maintenance during this procedure, the forklift was unobserved for a short period of time. Due to a fault in the forklift's hydraulic system, the engine tilted slightly to one side while it was not fully dismantled. There was a large dent and some parts inside the hanger broke. The break went unnoticed, even on the following flights. However, with every flight it worsened and eventually the engine stalled when AA191 took off. The disaster could no longer be averted due to the demolition of the engine and the damage to the hydraulic system. The NTSB wrote in its report that, under the circumstances, the pilots were in no way responsible for the crash. The chief mechanic responsible for overseeing maintenance died of suicide shortly before he was supposed to testify during the investigation.
The dismantling method used shortened the time required considerably and was practiced even though it was known in advance how the operation should have been carried out. The investigations showed that the construction of the girder and the entire suspension made maintenance work more difficult and favored the occurrence of damage.
Movies
- Chicago Air Crash 1979. Seconds before the accident (season 3, episode 15). German premiere: December 15, 2007
- American Airlines Flight 191st Mayday - cockpit alarm (season 12, episode 7). German premiere: March 6, 2013
Trivia
The American actress Lindsay Wagner canceled her ticket for this flight because she was not feeling well that day.
See also
Web links
- Aircraft Accident Report , National Transportation Safety Board (English, PDF)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sound recording of a radio message ( Memento from May 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ↑ Unfriendly Skies, 20th and 21st Centuries (page 133) ( Memento of July 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ↑ Seconds before the accident: Chicago Air Crash 1979. In: Fernsehserien.de. Retrieved March 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Mayday - Alarm in the cockpit: American Airlines Flight 191. In: Fernsehserien.de. Retrieved March 9, 2019 .