40 Years Ago This weekend - American 191 at O’Hare
 

Here is the NTSB report:
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/...ts/AAR7917.pdf

What I found particularly sad about this accident is that the crew followed the correct procedures for loss (failure) of engine one. They had no idea they were dealing with loss (separation) of engine one.

Followed by More Death Eleven.

I lived in Chicago, Grand & Harlem, 9 sm from crash site. I had just started training for my private ticket. WOW. Didn't stop my training. Passed check ride in SF Bay area.

It completely consumed the public attention.

How could the crew know they needed twenty more knots.

And they probably died thinking they failed to adequately control the aircraft in an OEI scenario.

IIRC:- It was the slats retracting following loss of hydraulic pressure that caused the uncontrolled roll.
The engine attachment was modified first and then several years later the slat system had valves fitted to stop them retracting.

My photo of N110AA taking-off from O'Hare on 13 August 1973.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e9a81924d9.jpg

In memory of all on board.

Boy, the picture of a $150 (probably smoked) ham overlying the last post is kinda disrespectful. Mods might want to watch that.

My grandparents lived in Maywood, IL, and we were having a weenie roast that afternoon in the forest preserve just to the east of ORD. (I was 15 at the time) My aunt Truelove and uncle Emil (who lived in the Toughy trailer park adjacent to the crash) were with us. We probably saw the takeoff, but the DC-10 made a lot less noise than most of the other hardware around at the time, so nobody was really looking, until there was a boom bigger than we were used to hearing (several years earlier) from all of the wonks from NAS Lakeview, and the military side of O'Hare "accidentally" breaking the sound barrier. This day, in addition to the noise, there was a big smoke cloud, and a fireball. Then we couldn't see much else. We finished our hotdogs, and tried to get out of the FP, but everything was blocked off. Got back to Maywood in the middle of the night with Truelove and Emil in tow. Found out two days later that they no longer had a house....

I just think it's cool that you have (had?) an aunt named Truelove.

I worked at a science lab that year in downstate Illinois, and the lab director was having a house-party that afternoon. I remember CBS "breaking in" on their regular programming with wall-to-wall coverage of AA191 (that was the year before CNN debuted).

At the time none of us had connections to aviation - but many had family or friends in Chi-town. The party became very quiet (and the BBQ was forgotten) as we just sat and watched the reporting.

Should be emphasized (it's in the report, of course) that an improvised engine maintenance procedure with a forklift damaged the aft pylon/wing attachment, which eventually broke under fatigue. When the engine came off, it took out the slat hydraulics - and also took with it Bus 1 power for the "slats disagree" warning and the sole stick-shaker (left seat). Crew simply had no chance of knowing what they were dealing with, flew correct engine-out procedure (climb at V2), and stalled the slatless wing. A particularly ugly coincidence of swiss-cheese holes.

Fate is the hunter..
 

I was on a business trip in The USA at that time, a family emergency occurred and I had to return home to Australia, the company that I worked for offered to fly me from Ohio in the company Saberliner to ORD to catch this flight, I thought this was too extravagant and declined, opting for an airline connection out of Dayton the next day....in 1973 in Sydney during my Commercial Licence training I had been enquiring about Instrument Rating Training at a flight school at Bankstown Airport, they offered me a chance to observe in a PA-30 but I had made arrangements to pick up my wife and declined the offer, the PA-30 had a mid-air collision with a deHavilland Dove, no survivors.....

Hydraulic Lines
 

I remember seeing DC-10s parked in large numbers while the FAA and NTSB were sorting out what to do. The San Diego 727 collision with a C-172 first hit by the nosewheel then hit the leading edge and took out all three hydraulic lines routed next to one another. The Sioux City DC-10 lost hydraulics when a piece of the #2 turbine disk went through the elevator.

Hard lessons.

I was told at the time that AA had installed a video camera on the flight deck so that the passengers could watch the pilots during the flight. If that is true, it does not bear thinking about.

I was in LA at the time. Friend was in publishing there. There was a publishers convention taking place and a number of attendees there were coming on the DC-10, you can imagine the cloud it cast over the event.

There are a number of photos of the accident occuring here, which don't seem commonly around (scroll halfway down).

The Ghosts of Flight 191 | Chicago magazine | May 2019

The fork lift approach was actually that for the rear, high up middle engine. It was apparently straightforward, while the wing engines were specified to need a complex cradle arrangement and more man hours to make a change. One would have thought that the manufacturer would anticipate someone adapting one method to the other, and thinking they were clever doing so. A specific "Never fork lift the wing engine in" instruction was needed. You can also argue that the mounting lugs should have been more robust, anticipating the forces when engines are put in place. A design attitude of "what could go wrong" as well as "what will work right".

I see nothing in the report that supports this. The report does discuss possible pilot actions in controlling the aircraft using various controls still working in this event

Before you get this all wrong I would like to comment.
The inspection being done was to inspect the pylon attachment pins.It saved several hundred man hours to leave the engine attached.
On the number 2 engine a forklift was used to lift a work platform that included the engine,a crew of mechanics and all of their tools. The engine was actually rolled into position on rails and was then lifted with come alongs with dynamometers attached to measure the force.

The reason the airplane crashed is because the slats retracted on the left wing and because these airplanes only had one AOA sensor and a single channel stall warning system that was powered by the number 1 generator which was on the engine that was lost.