Today is the 35 year anniversary of American Airlines Flight 191 Chicago O'Hare to Los Angeles LAX crash on May 25, 1979. All 258 passengers and 13 crew members and two people on the ground died. This was the worst single air disaster in U.S. history until the events of 9-11.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKDRfzu2MkA

35th anniversary of American Airlines Flight 191 crash near O’Hare

I saw the billowing rising smoke of the crash from my attic home while living in Chicago back then.

SUN-TIMES STAFF REPORTS May 25, 2014

Sunday marks the 35th anniversary of the American Airlines Flight 191 crash just outside O’Hare Airport that claimed the lives of 271 people aboard and two on the ground.

The Los Angeles-bound jet lost its left engine on takeoff, banked left and crashed on May 25, 1979. The indelible event in Chicago history remains the worst single airplane disaster on U.S. soil.

The jet crashed near Touhy Avenue and Mount Prospect Road, just south of the of now-closed Des Plaines Oasis on the Jane Addams Tollway.

The crash happened on takeoff from runway 32-Right. The DC-10 reached just 325 feet before plummeting at 3:04 p.m. Investigators ruled a maintenance shortcut at a repair shop in Tulsa, Okla., two months earlier damaged a crucial part of the pylon that held the left engine onto the wing.

McDonnell-Douglas, the aircraft’s maker, had recommended removing the pylon and the engine separately. But to save time, workers used a forklift to remove and re-attach both together, causing a crack that led to the pylon failure. When the 11,512-pound engine tore off, it ruptured key hydraulic and electrical lines, giving the pilots little chance of recovery.

DC-10s were grounded for nearly two months after the crash . Upgrades were later made to give pilots a better chance of recovering from an engine loss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivwyPRljwqw

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