Lisa Greenberg
By Lisa GreenbergIf you stand at the northwest corner ofTouhy Avenue and Mount Prospect Road in Des Plaines , Ill. Los Angeles Chicago United States Sept. 11, 2001 , the country was dealing with its largest loss of life from a single plane crash.
As American Airlines Flight 191 descended into this field just 4,000 ft. from the runway it had departed from seconds before, two more lives were taken on the ground, bringing the death toll to 273. Now, as we are all wont to say when tragedy strikes, it could have been worse. There is a trailer park on the edge of the field where Flight 191 fell. An Amoco fuel storage facility is also in the flight path, and it’s too grisly to create a picture in your mind of the decimation that such a collision might have produced.
But if you were there to witness the inferno that occurred that day in 1979, well, you never forgot it. The chimney of choking, black smoke was visible for miles. It was, just like that day in September three years ago, one of those days where people were rooted to their TV sets with the question “why?” blinking in their minds.
In this case there were no foreign terrorists infiltrating our mighty aviation system; the cause was something plain, yet somehow equally as sinister: shoddy maintenance.
At first the swarm of FAA and NTSB investigators deduced that the cause of the crash had been a bolt or bolts that fell loose, causing the left engine to drop off. But that conclusion proved to be hasty — forced by the enormous pressure that was brought to bear on American Airlines, airplane manufacturer McDonnell Douglas and the FAA by a ravenously curious public. The bolt was just a symptom of the real problem: A maintenance shortcut led to stress cracks and fractures over time in the left wing’s pylon bulkhead.
Instead of disassembling the components to remove the engine, American Airlines’ maintenance crew had modified McDonnell Douglas’ recommended procedure and had supported the engine with a forklift to save time. Once American Airlines’ maintenance records for the DC-10 were uncovered in itsTulsa , Okla.
During the following two months of takeoffs and landings, the cracks expanded. It was that final takeoff that released the plane’s left engine, causing it to tumble over the plane’s wing, severing both hydraulic lines that controlled the wing’s slats. The pilots instantly lost contact with the control tower, and not another word was recorded from that dim cockpit.
Another life was also taken as a result of this crash, but it would not happen until two years later, in 1981, on the eve of his deposition about the case. The maintenance manager for American Airlines at thatTulsa
Maybe that maintenance manager inTulsa
Lisa Greenberg is Managing Editor of Plant Services and Chemical Processing magazines. E-mail her at [email protected].
By Lisa GreenbergIf you stand at the northwest corner of
As American Airlines Flight 191 descended into this field just 4,000 ft. from the runway it had departed from seconds before, two more lives were taken on the ground, bringing the death toll to 273. Now, as we are all wont to say when tragedy strikes, it could have been worse. There is a trailer park on the edge of the field where Flight 191 fell. An Amoco fuel storage facility is also in the flight path, and it’s too grisly to create a picture in your mind of the decimation that such a collision might have produced.
But if you were there to witness the inferno that occurred that day in 1979, well, you never forgot it. The chimney of choking, black smoke was visible for miles. It was, just like that day in September three years ago, one of those days where people were rooted to their TV sets with the question “why?” blinking in their minds.
In this case there were no foreign terrorists infiltrating our mighty aviation system; the cause was something plain, yet somehow equally as sinister: shoddy maintenance.
At first the swarm of FAA and NTSB investigators deduced that the cause of the crash had been a bolt or bolts that fell loose, causing the left engine to drop off. But that conclusion proved to be hasty — forced by the enormous pressure that was brought to bear on American Airlines, airplane manufacturer McDonnell Douglas and the FAA by a ravenously curious public. The bolt was just a symptom of the real problem: A maintenance shortcut led to stress cracks and fractures over time in the left wing’s pylon bulkhead.
Instead of disassembling the components to remove the engine, American Airlines’ maintenance crew had modified McDonnell Douglas’ recommended procedure and had supported the engine with a forklift to save time. Once American Airlines’ maintenance records for the DC-10 were uncovered in its
During the following two months of takeoffs and landings, the cracks expanded. It was that final takeoff that released the plane’s left engine, causing it to tumble over the plane’s wing, severing both hydraulic lines that controlled the wing’s slats. The pilots instantly lost contact with the control tower, and not another word was recorded from that dim cockpit.
Another life was also taken as a result of this crash, but it would not happen until two years later, in 1981, on the eve of his deposition about the case. The maintenance manager for American Airlines at that
Maybe that maintenance manager in
Lisa Greenberg is Managing Editor of Plant Services and Chemical Processing magazines. E-mail her at [email protected].