DC-10 crash in Sioux City

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 (registration number N1819U, serial number 44618, serial 118) was launched by McDonnell Douglas in 1973 (the first flight took place on July 27). April 12 of the same year was purchased by United Airlines . It is equipped with three double - circuit turbofan engines General Electric CF6-6D . One of the oldest aircraft of the airline. On the day of the disaster, it completed 16,997 take-off and landing cycles and flew 43,401 hours ^{[1] [2]} .

Crew

The aircraft was managed by a very experienced crew, the composition of which was as follows:

• The aircraft commander (FAC) is 57-year-old Alfred C. Haynes . A very experienced pilot, worked at United Airlines for 33 years and 4 months (since February 23, 1956). He flew a Boeing 727 . In the post of commander of McDonnell Douglas DC-10 - from April 6, 1987 (before that he had been managing him as a co-pilot). 29 967 hours flew, over 7190 of them on DC-10.
• The co - pilot is 48-year-old William R. Records. An experienced pilot, worked at United Airlines for 19 years and 10 months (from August 25, 1969). He flew the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar . In the position of co-pilot McDonnell Douglas DC-10 - from August 8, 1988. Over 20,000 hours flew, 665 of them on the DC-10.
• Flight Engineer - 51-year-old Dudley J. Dvorak ( born Dudley J. Dvorak ). He worked at United Airlines for 3 years and 2 months (since May 19, 1986). He flew a Boeing 727. As a flight engineer, McDonnell Douglas DC-10 - since June 8, 1989. Flown over 15,000 hours, 33 of them on the DC-10.

8 cabin crew worked in the cabin :

• Janice T. Brown, 47, is a senior flight attendant. At flight work since April 1977.
• Barbara A. Gillaspie ( born Barbara A. Gillaspie ). In flight since February 1988.
• Timothy B. Owens (27 Timothy B. Owens ) At flight work since June 1989.
• Georgeann Del Castillo At flight work since October 1987.
• Susan White ( English Susan White ), 25 years. At flight work since May 1986.
• Donna S. McGrady At flight work since September 1979.
• Virginia A. Murray ( born Virginia A. Murray ), 35 years old. At flight work since May 1978.
• Rene L. Lebo ( born Rene L. Lebeau ), 23 years old. At flight work since November 1988.

Takeoff, engine loss

July 19, 1989 McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 aboard the N1819U with 285 passengers and 11 crew members on board flew from Denver at 14:09 CDT. At 15:16 at the FL370 echelon (11300 meters), engine No. 2 (in the tail section of the aircraft) broke down. The rotor of the engine collapsed, and its fragments (with a total mass of about 160 kilograms) scattered at high speed, pierced the planes of both horizontal stabilizers and damaged high-pressure pipes of all three hydraulic systems. As a result, hydraulic fluid was completely lost and the crew lost the ability to control all the steering surfaces of the aircraft. At the time of the onset of the accident, flight 232 was in the right bank, which began to increase after loss of control. FAC, reducing the thrust of the left engine and increasing the thrust of the right, managed to stabilize the plane and remove it from the bank. At that moment, the engines located on the wings were the only controllable elements of the aircraft.

At 15:20, the crew contacted the ATC service, reported an emergency and requested entry to the nearest airport. ATC instructed to board at Gateway Airport in Sioux City.

The Struggle for Governance

Among the passengers on Flight 232 was Dennis E. Fitch, 46, a very experienced pilot who worked for United Airlines for 21 years and 6 months (from January 2, 1968), and in 1989 worked for her instructor and reviewer. 2987 hours flew on the DC-10 (1943 as a flight engineer, 965 as a co-pilot and 79 as a FAC). He was not in attendance and occupied a passenger seat in the first-class cabin. Through an older stewardess (they had worked together at the training center for some time and were familiar), he offered his help to the crew.

At 15:29, the commander invited Fitch to the cockpit. At the request of the commander, he (through the windows of the cabin) examined the ailerons and spoilers on the wings of the aircraft and informed him that they were not damaged, but tilted up and not moving. Despite the fact that the PIC was not personally acquainted with Dennis Fitch, he entrusted him with the control of engines - the only controllable parts of the aircraft.

Having taken control of the engines, Fitch discovered that they were working inconsistently (the maximum thrust of the left engine was greater than the right). The situation was complicated by the fact that the damaged tail unit sought to turn the plane to the right: the crew was not able to make a straight flight and turns to the left. The only possible way to send a plane to the airport for an emergency landing was to perform a series of right U-turns.

At 15:42, the flight engineer went into the passenger compartment and examined the horizontal plumage through the portholes. Upon his return, he reported that significant damage was visible on the left and right planes.

Landing, disaster

Having made several right turns, the crew managed to direct the plane in the direction of Sioux City airport. After dumping the fuel (and, accordingly, reducing the mass of the aircraft), the crew completely reduced the thrust of the left engine and gave the take-off mode to the right. This made it possible to make the necessary left turn, which brought the plane onto the glide path of runway No. 22. It was originally planned to direct the plane to runway No. 31 (which is longer), but the crew did not have the opportunity to perform such a maneuver.

11 minutes before the landing (at 15:49) the chassis was released. The crew noticed a runway over 14 kilometers.

When the plane was on the glide path, the commander noticed that the horizontal and vertical speeds were too great, but there was no way to reduce them (spoilers and flaps did not work). He decided to reduce engine thrust, but the plane dangerously lowered his nose. Then Dennis Fitch, based on his own experience, said that just before landing it was necessary to reverse: give the engines maximum thrust to raise their nose and level the plane.

Fitch continued to control the operation of the engines, controlling the flight parameters for the instruments of the second pilot. But before landing, he noticed that the plane began to deviate to the right, and its right wing dropped sharply (which was later explained by the action of a gust of wind).

At 16:00:17 CDT flight UA232 touched the runway with the wheels of the right landing gear and slipped on the runway. At the same time, the right wing hooked the ground. The engine caught fire, the wing came off completely. The liner was thrown to the right, he stepped off the runway, collapsed into three parts, rolled over and caught fire. The firefighters and rescuers arrived in time brought down the flames and immediately began to evacuate the passengers. Despite the fact that the strongest flame in the area of ​​the fuel tanks was shot down, local fires continued inside the debris of the fuselage, in the smoke of which many wounded passengers wounded and blocked by debris suffocated. Fire extinguishment lasted 2 hours.

As a result of injuries and fire, 111 people died - 1 crew member (flight attendant Rene Lebo) and 110 passengers. The remaining 185 people - 10 crew members (including all three pilots and Dennis Fitch) and 175 passengers - survived (13 of them were not injured at all) ^[3] .

The investigation into the causes of the crash of flight UA232 was undertaken by the National Transport Safety Council (NTSB) .

The final report of the investigation was published on November 1, 1990.

According to the report, the cause of the destruction of the tail engine was a fatigue crack in the rotor, which was not noticed during the technical inspection of the aircraft.

The reason for the complete failure of the hydraulic system of steel:

• poor location of the hydraulic system tubes in the tail section of the aircraft,
• the absence of self-locking valves in the aircraft structure to prevent fluid leakage during pipeline destruction.

After the disaster, hydraulic locks in the hydraulic system became mandatory, eliminating its complete failure. The procedure for inspecting aircraft engines has been changed. Changes were made to the pilot training program.

Compared to other cases of hydraulic failure in aircraft, which ended in the death of all or most of the passengers, the case with flight 232 is unique to the large number of survivors. According to Flight Commander 232, there were a number of reasons:

• The catastrophe occurred during daylight hours.
• At the time of the disaster, there was a change of work at the trauma and burn centers in Su-City, so the medical staff was twice as normal.
• At the time of the crash, the U.S. National Guard was on duty at Sioux City Airport, whose fighters quickly organized the evacuation of the wounded.

The fact that the crew survived the crash allowed, based on the information provided by the pilots, to significantly enrich the scientific knowledge about the features of controlling aircraft with inoperative rudders.

All crew members were subsequently awarded.

The catastrophe is widely reflected in popular culture:

• Dennis E. Fitch spoke in detail about his crash landing experience on Errol Morris's “ First Person ” TV show.
• The crash of Flight 232 is featured in two National Geographic Channel documentary series - Seconds to Disaster ( Crash Landing in Sioux City ) and Crash Investigation ( Burst over Sioux City ).
• This catastrophe is also featured in the American documentary television series MSNBC Why Planes Crash in the Crisis In The Sky series.
• Recording the crew’s in-cabin conversations became the basis for part of the script for the play Charlie Victor Romeo .
• In the United States, the feature film " A Thousand Heroes " was shot.
• In the story “ Fear of Flight ” by Vasily Ershov , the scenario of a catastrophe on board the Tu-154 airliner was largely borrowed from the description of flight 232. Moreover, the author directly mentions this incident in the context of the story.

• Spencer Bailey is a passenger of Flight 232. The youngest of the surviving passengers (at the time of the accident, he was 3 years old).
• Jerry Schemmel is a passenger of Flight 232. Commentator and one of the NBA managers. After the disaster, he rescued the child from the burning wreckage of the plane. Subsequently, he wrote the book "Chosen to Live" about the experience on flight 232.
• Janice T. Brown, flight attendant 232. She organized a public movement to improve the safety of air transportation of children (due to the lack of child restraints on flight 232, small children died).
• Alfred C. Haynes is the crew commander of Flight 232. After the crash, he continued to work as a pilot at United Airlines. He left his flight work in 1991, and later worked as an instructor in post-stress rehabilitation in emergency situations. He was a frequent guest at various receptions, presentations and meetings, where he talked about the disaster. His son died in 1996, and his wife died in 1999. In 2001, his daughter needed an expensive operation, the money for which helped all the passengers of flight 232. He died on August 26, 2019 at the age of 87.
• Dennis E. Fitch is a passenger and a “fourth pilot” of Flight 232. He also continued to work for United Airlines as a flight instructor pilot. In addition, he became a consultant to NASA on the effective management of emergency crew resources. He also founded his own consulting firm, providing services in the field of crew resource management and human factors. He outlined his experience of an emergency landing in a monograph and several interviews. He is one of the initiators of the development of an automatic emergency control system for aircraft using the thrust of PCA engines. His work on Flight 232 was noted by US President George W. Bush and the US Congress as a feat. He died on May 7, 2012 from brain cancer at the age of 69 years ^[4] .

• On January 3, 1994, a catastrophe occurred in almost the same way . Due to a fire of engine No. 2 on a Tu-154 aircraft of Baikal Airlines (flight BKL130), all three hydraulic systems failed. An uncontrolled plane crashed into a dairy farm on the outskirts of Irkutsk . Killed all passengers and crew, as well as 1 person on the ground.
• Also, due to the failure of all hydraulic systems, Boeing 747 Japan Airlines (flight JAL 123) and DC-10 Turkish Airlines (flight TK 981) crashed . Both disasters ended in an uncontrolled crash of aircraft. In the first disaster, only 4 people survived, in the second, everyone died.
• On November 22, 2003, immediately after departing from Baghdad Airport, a DHL Airbus A300 cargo aircraft was hit by a missile launched from MANPADS . The explosion of the warhead of the rocket caused a partial destruction of the left wing and the failure of all hydraulic systems. The crew managed to make an emergency landing at the airport. No harm done.
• Due to the destruction of the rotor of the engine, which led to loss of control, in 1980 and 1987 there were crashes of two IL-62 airliners of the airline LOT - Polish Airlines (flights LO 007 and LO 5055). In the first disaster, 87 people died, in the second 183.

• The DC-10 crash in Faro - the largest number of survivors, despite the destruction of the aircraft

• Description of the incident on the Aviation Safety Network
• NTSB Accident report of United Airlines Flight 232
• Decoding of the voice recorder flight UA232 (Aviation Safety Network)
• A talk given by the pilot describing the crash at NASA Dryden in 1991
• Original disaster video (news report) . ABC News , July 19, 1989
• Photos of the N1819U board after and before the crash on Airliners.net
• Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232 on the Internet Movie Database - 1992 TV movie