I believe the accident you are refering to was at Sioux City. DC10 had an uncontained engine failure - the debris ripped all three hydraulic systems, causing all the fluid to leak out. Since the hydraulics power the flight controls....
The aircraft was "landed" using assymetric thrust from #1 & #3 engines. Unfortunately flipped over on landing. Many dead but on the other hand, many survived. Crew highly praised, since this was supposed to be impossible (This led to a re-design of the hydraulic line routings).
Since then NASA and others have been investigating using #1 & #3 for yaw control, #2 for pitch control. I seem to remember they landed an MD11 (or DC10) successfully using this method.
I'm sure others can fill in more details. Hope of some use.
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rgds Rat