Engine To Body Seal

20 years ago, pilot's heroic efforts saved 185 people as plane crashed

Twenty years ago today, passengers and gang aboard United Airlines flight 232 from Denver to Chicago heard a deafening midair blast at the rear of the plane. The engine mounted in the tail of the DC-10 had exploded at 37,000 feet.

With two competent engines still operating on the wings, Capt. Al Haynes, of Seattle, wasn't lavishly worried as he shut down the fuel flow to the dead engine.

But shrapnel from the exploding engine had severed all the hydraulic lines.

From that point in time on, Haynes couldn't budge any of the flight-control surfaces on the wings and the behind. It was as if, when driving a car, the steering wheel would no longer turn the wheels.

Haynes was flying a widespread-body jet with almost 300 people on board. That included 52 children, an unusually heavy-set number because of a marketing promotion that offered a one-cent kids along.

Source: Seattle Times

See Also

• Bumpers
• Door Handle
• Fog Lights
• Fenders
• Grilles
• Headlights
• Hoods
• Mirrors
• Tail Lights
• Turn Signals
• Tailgates
• Wheels
• Windows
• Weatherstripping
• Trunks