Air Disasters - The Black Box Files

A Twin Otter on a routine coastal hop into Namsos loses thirty-one meters of clearance as instruments read green - did they make it in time?

Thirty-One Meters: Why Widerøe Flight 744 Vanished Below the Radar

In this episode, we walk through the final hour before Widerøe Flight 744 struck terrain, piecing together cockpit voice recorder excerpts, crew actions, and operational details to understand the build-up to impact. What decisions, small errors, and conditions combined in those last ninety seconds?

Date: 27 October 1993
Flight: Widerøe Flight 744 (Twin Otter LN-BNM)
Location: Namsos approach, Norway
Passengers: 17
Survivors: 13 injured; 6 fatalities

- Both pilots were experienced on the route: Captain Jan Bjørstad had landed at Namsos 13 times in the prior year; First Officer Trond Hamre had 27 recent Namsos landings.
- The aircraft, LN-BNM, had 40,453 flight hours and maintenance records showed no discrepancies; engines and instruments reported normal before impact.
- A ground handler miscalculated center-of-gravity; the captain checked and recalculated by hand and accepted passenger seating without moving anyone.
- The crew turned onto base leg earlier than planned, placing the aircraft 14 nautical miles out instead of the expected position and compressing time and altitude margins.
- The cockpit voice recorder captured the last ninety seconds almost verbatim, but obtaining it from the airline took nearly two years and three court rulings.

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A pilot cleared to back‑taxi moves toward a different runway at St. Louis after an automated weather loop omitted one runway-did they make it in time?

The automated weather loop omitted one runway and turned night into a countdown

In this episode, the story follows an MD-82 and a Cessna crossing paths at Lambert Airport on the night of November 22, 1994, after an automated weather broadcast left out a runway and a required readback was never made. The episode traces radio calls, crew experience, and how expectation shaped what pilots heard-could the silence be the clue that matters?

Date: November 22, 1994
Location: St. Louis Lambert International Airport
Aircraft (1): McDonnell Douglas MD-82, N954U
Aircraft (2): Cessna 441 Conquest II, N441KM
Flight crew (MD-82): Captain Rick Carr (57), First Officer Randy Speed (38)
System failure: Automated Terminal Information Service omitted Runway 31

- ATIS loop listed only Runways 30L and 30R; Runway 31 was omitted from the automated weather broadcast.
- Ground control cleared the Cessna to back-taxi and hold on Runway 31 and the controller spoke the number aloud.
- The Cessna pilot did not read back "thirty-one"; the controller did not catch the missing readback and issued no correction.
- The Cessna had landed earlier that evening on Runway 30R and the crew’s recent experience likely shaped their taxi expectations.
- The NTSB identified preconception-expectation-driven perception-as a mechanism that may explain how the crew moved toward the wrong runway.

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This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

A commercial jet lands at Tegucigalpa-did the crew make it off the pavement before traffic and the valley caught up?

The ungrooved runway sent the jet onto the road - did they make it?

In this episode, we walk through the landing at Toncontín where a TACA Airbus A320 ran out of runway, struck vehicles and broke apart amid documented runway deficiencies and pilot decisions. What choices and failures in the final 300 meters set the stage for disaster?

Date: 30 May 2008
Location: Toncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Aircraft: Airbus A320, registration EI-TAF
People: 135 on board (124 passengers, 11 crew); notable passengers named in record
Condition: Runway ungrooved, friction not measured in five years; light rain and tailwind

- The runway sits inside a mountain-cut valley with a steep, curved final approach and public roads at both ends.
- Pilots had filed braking and wet-season complaints about the surface since 2003; friction measurements were not taken.
- A repaving contract from 2003 was not completed, and inspectors found structural deficiencies affecting ~30% of runway area.
- The crew was told an alternate airport was available with fuel calculated for diversion, but they elected to land.
- Captain D'Antonio (40, 11,899 flight hours, 52 prior Toncontín landings) flew the approach in low ceilings and light rain.

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A controller told them "final approach path is clear" as an ATR-72 descended over the Zagros - did they make it in time?

The controller's "final approach path is clear" bought them seconds

In this episode, we follow the flight, the crew, and the decisions that led an ATR-72 to descend below safe altitude toward the Zagros Mountains. We lay out the weather, the cockpit dynamics, and the sequence of actions that pulled the aircraft closer to terrain - could a single radio call have steered the course?

Date: 18 February 2018
Aircraft: ATR 72-212, registration EP-ATS
Route: Tehran (Mehrabad) to Yasuj
Crew: Captain Hojatollah Foolad (17,000+ hrs); First Officer Kaveh Khalili (~1,800 hrs)
Weather: Ceiling 9,000 ft (minimum required 11,000 ft); cumulonimbus, thunderstorm risk

- Departure crossed company minima: flight dispatched despite METARs and forecast below required ceiling.
- Controller at Yasuj tower radioed "the final approach path was clear" at 05:49 UTC, which the crew accepted.
- Aircraft descended from 16,975 ft into the Zagros and was 500 ft below the minimum safe altitude for the corridor.
- Ground proximity alarm activated and sounded continuously in the final moments recorded by the flight data recorder.
- Investigators reaching the remote crash site on foot recovered data showing a chain of plausible decisions and cockpit dynamics rather than a single catastrophic mechanical failure.

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A DC‑9 skims Boston outer marker in dense fog with seconds to spare - did the crew bring it back on glideslope before it was too late?

The Outer Marker Crossed High That Left One Runway and Seconds to Spare

In this episode, we follow Delta Air Lines Flight 723’s final approach into Boston Logan on July 31, 1973, reconstructing the sequence of decisions, timing pressures, and shifting weather that led to the aircraft crossing the outer marker improperly. What choices and distractions stacked in those last minutes, and could the crew still correct course in time?

Date: July 31, 1973
Aircraft: DC‑9‑31 (N975NE)
Flight: Delta Air Lines Flight 723
Location: Boston Logan International Airport (approach over Boston Harbor)
Weather: Fog, ceiling 400 ft, visibility 0.5 mile, variable RVR

- The flight departed Burlington, Vermont, route included stops at Manchester, then inbound to Boston on a routine northeast corridor hop.
- Captain John N. Streil (49) had 14,840 total hours and 1,457 on the DC‑9; First Officer Sidney W. Burrill (31) had 6,994 hours with 217 on type.
- Clearance for the approach was delayed by just over one minute while ATC handled a traffic conflict, leaving the crew waiting during a critical phase.
- The aircraft crossed the outer marker already above the glideslope and faster than stabilized approach criteria required, with changing runway visual range between 1,400 and 6,000 feet.
- At decision height the crew failed to make the required visual/no‑visual choice as multiple small errors and distractions accumulated.

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A Boeing 737 begins its Buenos Aires takeoff with flaps never extended - can the crew stop disaster as runway and lives run out?

The untouched flap handle doomed the takeoff - did they make it?

In this episode, we follow the minute-by-minute lead-up to the LAPA Flight 3142 accident, tracing crew actions, aircraft status, and procedural breakdowns that preceded the runway overrun. The episode asks how checklists, warnings, and certification failures intersected - and whether timely action could have changed the outcome.

Event: LAPA Flight 3142
Date: August 31, 1999
Location: Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, Buenos Aires
Aircraft: Boeing 737-200, registration LV-WRZ
People on board: 100 (95 passengers, 5 crew)

- Captain Gustavo Weigel boarded and interacted with dispatch; his pilot license had expired and personnel files logged repeated checklist and command weaknesses.
- First officer Luis Etcheverry, the junior pilot, arrived separately and ordered 8,500 kg of fuel before boarding procedures proceeded.
- The aircraft was airworthy with functioning engines, hydraulics, brakes, and thrust reversers; the airframe had logged 64,564 flight hours and 38,680 cycles.
- The takeoff checklist card was found intact and unworn in its holder, and cockpit recorders captured a timeline showing flaps were never extended.
- Investigators documented a paper trail of warnings, a cockpit warning light that activated and was ignored, and repeated certifications that overlooked documented procedural struggles.

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A nine-month-old DC‑10 descends low toward Miami's runway, its crew unaware that approach lights and unseen wind shear have stolen their seconds.

The approach lights masked the wind shear and stole their seconds

In this episode, we follow the final minutes of a brand‑new Douglas DC‑10 on approach to Miami International and the sequence of decisions and missing information that shaped the descent. The story focuses on what the crew knew (and what they were never told) as the aircraft crossed the approach lights and encountered a sudden atmospheric instability - and asks whether systems or experience failed to buy them enough time.

Aircraft: Douglas DC‑10 (N310EA)
Date: December 20, 1972
Location: Miami International Airport, Runway 27 left approach
People: Captain James Sutor and three‑man cockpit crew (combined ~85,000 flight hours)
Passengers on board: 168

- The plane had been delivered in March 1972 and had accumulated 2,016 flight hours by December.
- Approach lights were mounted on 32‑foot concrete and steel piers extending into shallow water just short of the runway threshold.
- Instrument landing system and radio communications were functioning, but crews lacked accurate information about low‑level wind shear.
- The descent rate increased through an invisible instability that the pilots did not recognize in time given available information.
- Investigators concluded the trap was systemic - experienced crew competence could not compensate for critical information that was never provided.

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A Boeing 737 climbing out of Beirut makes a sudden left turn at 9,000 feet with 90 people aboard - did they make it in time?

The left turn at nine thousand feet cost them the chance to survive

In this episode, we reconstruct the first chaotic minutes after Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 took off from Beirut, piecing together radar tracks, shoreline witness accounts, and the cockpit crew profiles to show how the flight deteriorated. What happened in those four minutes and forty-one seconds, and how did crew dynamics and weather shape the choices made in the cockpit?

Date: January 25, 2010
Flight: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409
Aircraft: Boeing 737, registration ET-ANB
Time: 02:41 local
Location: Off the coast near Na'ameh, Mediterranean Sea

- Four minutes and forty-one seconds after takeoff the radar return vanished while the jet was still climbing and in sight of runway lights.
- The aircraft had climbed to about 9,000 feet and then executed a left-hand turn recorded by instruments.
- Captain Habtamu Benti Negasa had 10,233 total flight hours and 2,488 on the 737; First Officer Aluna Tamerat Beyene had 673 hours total and 350 on the 737.
- Weather that night featured variable winds at eight knots and thunderstorms rolling through the eastern Mediterranean, with shifting wind directions near the coast.
- Wreckage was later located about 45 meters beneath the Mediterranean near the village of Na'ameh, while shore witnesses and radar data presented conflicting accounts.

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A Beechcraft with Buddy Holly aboard struggles north from Mason City toward Clear Lake after an engine misfire-can they make it to the field in time?

The Beechcraft's Engine Misfired-Could They Reach Clear Lake in Time?

In this episode, we follow the twelve-hour chain of decisions that put Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson and pilot Roger Peterson on a single Beechcraft Bonanza. The narrative traces Holly's rise from Lubbock radio bands to national stardom and the fatal flight that left an envelope sealed for twenty-one years; what choices and mechanical warnings mattered most?

Person: Buddy Holly
Date: February 3, 1959
Location: Five miles northwest of Clear Lake, Iowa
Event: Beechcraft Bonanza crash after takeoff from Mason City Municipal Airport
Status: Personal effects sealed in courthouse envelope until March 1980

- Buddy Holly practiced piano, steel guitar and flat-top acoustic until his sound was fully formed, then teamed with local musicians into the Crickets.
- After a rejected Decca contract, Holly recorded "That'll Be the Day" at Norman Petty’s Clovis studio, which led to a number one hit and rapid touring success.
- On February 3, 1959, a Beechcraft Bonanza took off at 1:05 a.m. into freezing darkness from Mason City Municipal Airport with four people aboard.
- Eyewitness and administrative traces: an envelope dated April 7, 1959 held glasses, a wristwatch, a lighter, dice and watch parts and remained unopened for twenty-one years.
- In the preceding months Holly had recorded ambitious sessions, moved to Greenwich Village, married and faced complex label and royalty arrangements routed through Norman Petty.

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A senator’s Aerostar nears Philadelphia with a dark nose‑gear indicator; can on-scene helicopter checks stop the clock with nine minutes left?

The nose-gear light failed and nine minutes ran out

In this episode, we follow the nine-minute sequence after a nose-gear indicator failed on Senator John Heinz’s Aerostar as it neared Philadelphia while children played outside at Merion Elementary. We track the decisions, improvised checks, and communications that unfolded and ask whether those actions could avert disaster.

Person: John Heinz
Date: April 4, 1991
Location: Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania
Aircraft: Piper PA-60 Aerostar

- Pilot used propeller spinners as an improvised visual check and reported seeing the gear appear down.
- Philadelphia tower observers stated the nose gear “appeared” extended but could not verify gear was locked.
- The Aerostar’s warning horn would sound if throttles were reduced with gear unconfirmed, but investigators concluded the crew probably never tested it.
- No cockpit voice recorder existed on the Aerostar, leaving crew conversations and actions during the nine minutes undocumented.
- A Bell 412 SP helicopter crew heard the radio exchanges and offered to visually assist the Aerostar on approach.

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A memo about a trim-tank transfer appears midflight, and an A330 with 306 aboard becomes a powerless glider - did they make it in time?

The trim-tank transfer memo that started a nineteen-minute glide

In this episode, we follow the sequence of mechanical warnings, crew decisions, and unseen fuel loss that converted Air Transat Flight 236 into a glider sixty-five nautical miles from the nearest runway. We trace the instruments, the maintenance choices on the ground, and the nineteen minutes that determined the aircraft’s fate - could the pilots diagnose the invisible leak fast enough?

Date: August 24, 2001
Aircraft: Airbus A330-243, registration C-GITS
People: Captain Robert Piché; First Officer Dirk DeJager; 306 aboard
Event: Dual engine fuel loss leading to glide
Location: 65 nautical miles off course over the Atlantic

- At 05:11 UTC a TRIM TANK XFR memo began and ran for nineteen minutes, indicating an automatic fuel transfer nobody expected.
- Engine two showed low oil temperature and high oil pressure first; crew ran standard diagnostics and assumed noncritical anomalies.
- A fuel line fracture downstream of the fuel-oil heat exchanger leaked fuel at about 13 tonnes per hour, invisible to cockpit leak detection.
- Fuel quantity and estimated fuel-at-destination figures began a slow, puzzling decline that the crew interpreted as possible instrument error.
- The aircraft lost both engines and became a glider 65 nautical miles from the nearest runway, after maintenance decisions on the ground set the stage.

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A Fokker 100 at Almaty sits iced in freezing fog before a rushed takeoff; a missed walk-around and asymmetric ice leave lift in doubt.

The skipped walk‑around left the wings iced - did they lift in time?

In this episode, we follow Bek Air Flight 2100 from gate to runway, detailing the decisions, procedures and conditions that led to a takeoff with unnoticed ice on the wings. How did routine shortcuts, sparse winter training and missing records align on one cold morning?

Date: December 27, 2019
Aircraft: Fokker 100 (UP‑F1007)
Location: Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan
Passengers: 93 passengers, 5 children, 3 infants (98 people on board)
Temperature: -12°C on the ramp; inversion layer ~1,000 ft above runway

- Pushback at 07:22 after hours of freezing fog left ice building on the wings while no tactile walk-around was performed.
- Three hours earlier another pilot reported frost on slats and fuel tanks; the message was logged but not acted on by Flight 2100 crew.
- Bek Air mechanics were swapping engine components without data plates or Rolls‑Royce maintenance reports, leaving service histories unverifiable.
- Neither captain nor first officer had received specific winter-operations training; the operator’s program lacked cold-weather requirements.
- Ice accumulated unevenly on the wings causing asymmetric contamination that would affect lift during initial climb.

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A pilot reads a descent clearance over Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains; Flight 241 vanishes two minutes later - did they make it in time?

Last Transmission at 10:48: How Flight 241 Vanished into the Cardamoms

In this episode, we follow the timeline of PMTair Flight 241’s final minutes and the operational quirks around it. We lay out the decisions, the equipment gaps, and the human moments that led the aircraft toward a jungle ridge - what happened between 10:48 and 10:50 remains unanswered.

Date: June 25, 2007
Flight: PMTair Flight 241
Aircraft: Antonov An-24B, registration XU-U4A, manufactured 1969
Passengers: 22 (including 13 South Korean nationals and 3 Czech nationals)
Crew experience: Captain 10,345 hours; First Officer 3,500 hours; Flight Engineer present

- Departure from Siem Reap at 10:01 and normal climb; blip later drifted off planned route on Phnom Penh radar without controller query.
- Crew asked Sihanoukville about destination weather at 10:36 while still 60 nm out on a short hop that should have been near completion.
- Handed off to Sihanoukville at 10:42; contact described as normal before descent and loss from Phnom Penh radar at 10:46.
- Last transmission: pilot read back a descent clearance at 10:48 over the Cardamom Mountains; two minutes later the aircraft was gone.
- Investigators found wreckage with both flight recorders useless and a chain of small, individually explainable decisions converging on a 2,700 ft jungle ridge.

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A damaged VOR beacon led a charter plane a mile off course toward a Minnesota runway - did they make it in time?

The VOR beacon pulled planes a mile off course - did they make it?

In this episode, we lay out the flight, the political stakes, and the pieces investigators had to assemble after a King Air A100 crashed two miles short of Eveleth’s runway. Who the passengers were, what the pilots’ records showed, and how a faulty VOR became central to the reconstruction drive the story - what crucial questions remain?

Person: Paul Wellstone
Date: October 25, 2002
Location: Eveleth, Minnesota
Event: Beechcraft King Air A100 crash
Status: No flight recorders aboard

- The King Air A100 departed for a roughly one-hour charter flight carrying eight people, including Senator Paul Wellstone, en route to Eveleth on the morning of October 25, 2002.
- The aircraft struck dense forest about two miles short of the Eveleth runway at 10:22 a.m.; there were no survivors and the plane had no black boxes.
- Technicians tested the local VOR beacon the next morning and found it pulled aircraft approximately one mile off course, aiming toward the eventual impact site.
- Investigators reconstructed the final minutes using radar returns, radio transcripts, the damaged VOR, and testimony from pilots who had flown with the two cockpit crew members.
- The NTSB cited crew error, the FBI investigated possible sabotage, and documents from that probe were sealed for eight years, leaving unanswered threads about the flight’s last decisions.

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A regional turboprop drifts off course toward a fogged Azores mountain; an alarm gives the crew seconds to avoid impact - did they make it in time?

The drifting heading that erased their minutes and doomed the flight

In this episode, we follow SATA Flight SP530M on a short inter-island run in the Azores that turns unexpected as instruments, weather, and routine decisions collide. We trace the chain of small navigational errors, crew calls, and shifting winds that set the plane toward a mountain and ask how those minutes vanished.

Date: December 11, 1999
Flight: SP530M
Aircraft: British Aerospace ATP, registration CS-TGM, named Graciosa
Crew: Captain Arnaldo Mesquita (55), First Officer António Magalhães (46)
Location: Azores, approaching Horta (São Jorge vicinity)

- Departure from Ponta Delgada at 09:37 for a short hop to Horta then Flores with 33 passengers aboard.
- Pilots requested a modified route threading between Pico and São Jorge and to intercept Horta VOR at 250°.
- Solid low cloud and winds shifting from southwest to strong northerlies produced 30-45 knot gusts that steadily pushed the aircraft off track.
- At 10:03 the crew reported passing waypoint LIMA-MIKE while the aircraft was already 14 nautical miles off course due to uncorrected dead reckoning.
- Seventeen seconds elapsed between the cockpit alarm at 10:17:17 and the collision with terrain; no distress call was transmitted.

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Landing gear extended as the Fokker 50 descended over Sharjah - sixteen seconds that may decide the passengers' fate. Did they make it in time?

The landing gear extended and burned sixteen seconds of fuel

In this episode, we follow the flight path, crew and decisions aboard Kish Air flight 7170 that set the stage for a catastrophic sixteen-second window over Sharjah. The episode traces the routine route, the known technical vulnerability, and the crew actions that led up to those critical seconds - how many choices had to align wrong for them to become lethal?

Aircraft: Fokker 50, registration EP-LCA
Date: February 10, 2004
Flight: 7170
Passengers and crew: 42 passengers, 6 crew; at least twelve nationalities
Maintenance: anti-skid modification scheduled for May 2004; last Type A check December 24, 2003

- Landing gear extended while the aircraft was still four hundred feet in the air during approach to Sharjah.
- A dormant flaw in the anti-skid control unit sent a ground signal to the solenoids immediately after gear extension.
- The modification Fokker announced in 2003 had been scheduled but not installed on EP-LCA by February 2004.
- Captain Ahmed Hosseini and First Officer Nemat Panahian exchanged control mid-cruise without a formal transfer or completed brief.
- Every passenger was traveling to Kish Island to exit and re-enter the UAE to renew residency paperwork, making the flight mandatory for many.

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This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

A pilot trained to counter wake turbulence slammed the rudder pedals as an Airbus A300 climbed out of JFK-could crews stop a falling tail fin in time?

The rudder pedals slammed; could crews stop a falling tail fin in time?

In this episode, we present the sequence of events from takeoff to catastrophe on American Airlines Flight 587, showing the procedures, training, and forces at play as crews reacted in real time. What decisions and six seconds of training might explain how a routine departure became a deadly structural failure?

Person: Captain Edward States
Person: First Officer Sten Molin
Date: November 12, 2001
Aircraft: Airbus A300-600R, registration N14053
Location: Departure from John F. Kennedy International Airport over Belle Harbor, Queens

- At 09:15:36 the flight recorder logged an initial rolling jolt consistent with wake turbulence from a preceding Boeing 747.
- First Officer Sten Molin was the pilot flying and had completed American Airlines’ Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program training for wake turbulence encounters.
- A set of hard rudder pedal inputs applied forces of approximately 200 to 3,000 pounds to the fin's attachment bolts within seconds.
- The A300’s vertical tail is attached at six bolted points, each engineered to hold roughly 100,000 pounds of force, and the fin weighed about 2,000 pounds.
- The entire sequence from first pedal input to cockpit voice recorder silence lasted sixty-six seconds.

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A plane named Mesrop Mashtots descends toward Sochi at night - can two fatigued pilots stop a routine approach from becoming catastrophe?

Black Sea Landing Gear Down: Why Armavia A320 Dove at Night

In this episode, we lay out the flight, the people, and the cockpit timeline that led to Armavia Flight 967 approaching Sochi. You’ll hear how decisions, fatigue, and automation interacted in the final minutes - and the question remains: did they make it in time?

Flight: Armavia Flight 967
Date: May 3, 2006 (early hours local)
Location: Off the coast of Sochi, Russia / en route Zvartnots Yerevan-Sochi
Aircraft: Airbus A320, msn 547, named Mesrop Mashtots
Passengers and crew: 113 on board (105 passengers, 8 crew)

- Captain Grigor Grigoryan (40) and First Officer Arman Davtyan (29) were both qualified on the A320 with documented type ratings.
- The aircraft had over 10,000 flight hours, was airworthy, and had served previous operators before joining Armavia in 2004.
- In cruise Davtyan told the captain he was fatigued; the exchange was captured on the cockpit voice recorder.
- During descent Grigoryan expressed frustration with the autopilot’s managed-descent mode and favored his own instincts.
- At high speed the aircraft struck the sea with its landing gear down, and the cockpit voice recorder captured conflicting control inputs in the final ninety seconds.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

A bent pylon fitting from a Tulsa shortcut cracks unseen as American Airlines Flight 191 climbs - did they make it in time?

The bent pylon fitting failed six knots below stall - did they make it?

In this episode, we present the documented sequence of maintenance decisions, damaged parts, and cockpit silence that preceded a catastrophic failure on May 25, 1979. What procedural shortcut and missed signals set up the crisis, and could anyone have known in time?

Date: May 25, 1979
Event: Engine separation during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport
Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas DC-10, registration N110AA
Maintenance: Engine and pylon removed together in Tulsa, March 29-30, 1979
Margin: Aircraft was six knots below stall with no cockpit warnings

- A $58 shortcut: Tulsa crew used a forklift to remove engine and pylon as one unit, cutting procedure steps from 79 to 27.
- A McDonnell Douglas representative warned that the combined removal method carried risk, but the procedure was used anyway.
- During the forklift operation a rear attachment fitting on the pylon was bent, damage invisible to naked-eye inspection.
- The aircraft flew for eight weeks and dozens of flights while a fatigue crack grew through the damaged fitting with each pressurization cycle.
- From engine separation to the aircraft rolling past the point of no return was 31 seconds, with no warning lights or alarms reaching the cockpit.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

An engine and pylon tore free the instant Flight 191 rotated at O'Hare-did the maintenance shortcut and a cracked pylon flange doom everyone aboard?

The pylon flange cracked during removal - did they reach safety?

In this episode, we follow the thirty-one seconds after American Airlines Flight 191 lost an engine at rotation and the maintenance decisions that preceded it. The episode traces the chain from a combined engine-pylon removal shortcut in Tulsa to the unnoticed crack that grew over weeks - but did anyone foresee the consequence?

Date: May 25, 1979
Flight: American Airlines Flight 191
Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas DC-10, N110AA
Maintenance event: Engine and pylon removed together March 29-30, 1979
Fatalities: 273

- The airline used a combined engine-and-pylon removal method in Tulsa to save roughly 200 labor hours per aircraft.
- The combined removal stressed the pylon aft bulkhead flange in ways the procedure wasn’t designed to handle.
- During the Tulsa work, a forklift-supported engine-pylon assembly shifted and produced an undetected crack in the flange.
- The cracked flange went unnoticed through inspections and the aircraft flew nearly two months afterward.
- The left engine and pylon separated at the exact instant of rotation at O'Hare, 15:59, sending the engine onto runway 32R while the airframe continued airborne.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.