The cockpit voice recorder captured the pilot's final word "damn" moments before American Airlines Flight 191 crashed near Chicago's O'Hare Airport on 25 May 1979, killing all 273 people on board in what remains the deadliest aviation disaster in US history. The crash was caused not by pilot error, but a flawed maintenance procedure.
Engine tears away moments after takeoff
The domestic flight departed from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport bound for Los Angeles, with flying conditions set to be favourable. Yet the first indication of the impending catastrophe emerged mere seconds after the aircraft left the runway.
The McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 had only moments remaining before disaster struck. The left front engine tore away from the left wing, flipped over and slammed onto the runway with a devastating impact.
Pilot loses control as hydraulics fail
As the engine was ripped from the aircraft, it sliced through several hydraulic fluid pipes responsible for keeping the wing's slats in position. Approximately three feet of the left wing was also severely compromised, and as the plane climbed upward with full take-off thrust still engaged, a catastrophic sequence of events unfolded.
With 258 passengers and 13 crew members on board, the aircraft began to roll uncontrollably through the air. The stricken pilot lost all control of the enormous plane, and the cockpit crew was powerless to prevent the inevitable chain of events hurtling them towards their deaths.
Final word and immediate impact
The aircraft continued to veer wildly from side to side. The final word captured on the cockpit voice recorder, as the crew heard a thunderous bang following the engine's detachment, was simply "damn".
The aircraft plummeted into a field at the end of the runway, killing all 273 passengers and crew instantly upon impact.
Faulty maintenance procedure blamed
Just a fortnight after the disaster, the DC-10-10 was grounded across all airlines. The aircraft's design was subsequently deemed airworthy and was found to have played no role in causing the catastrophic departure.
Rather, a defective maintenance procedure carried out during a previous engine replacement is believed to have led to the damage that caused the left front engine to break away from the aircraft in the first place. American Airlines was handed a $500,000 fine, a sum that would be equivalent to $1.4 million in today's money.
