United Airlines Flight 232: loss of flight controls

On 19^th July 1989, United Airlines Flight 232, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10, was flying from Stapleton International Airport (Denver, USA) to O'Hare International Airport (Chicago, USA), when the aircraft suffered a catastrophic engine failure. The uncontained disintegration of the number two engine's fan rotor pierced parts of the hull and caused the loss of all three of the aircraft's redundant hydraulic flight control systems. With only the thrust levers for the two remaining engines working, the crew attempted an emergency landing at Sioux City (Iowa), but the aircraft broke up during the operation. Yet, most passengers and crew members survived the crash.

This accident and its relatively successful outcome has being since considered a good example of effective Crew Resource Management (McKinney, Barker, Davis & Smith, 2005¹, quoted in Wikipedia, undated)³.

Aviation crash video

Part 1 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 21 March 2009 (see National Geographic, 20052)1

Part 2 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 21 March 2009 (see National Geographic, 20052)

Part 3 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 21 March 2009 (see National Geographic, 20052)

Part 4 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 21 March 2009 (see National Geographic, 20052)

Part 5 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 21 March 2009 (see National Geographic, 20052)

Footnotes

1. The video has been aired as "Air Crash Investigations", although it actually forms part of the series "Seconds from Disaster".

2. Also known as Crash landing in Sioux City.

References

1. McKINNEY Earl H Jr, BARKER James R, DAVIS Kevin J & SMITH Daryl (2005). How swift starting action teams get off the ground: what United Flight 232 and airline flight crews can tell us about team communication. Management Communication Quarterly, 2005, vol.19, no.2, pp.198-237. DOI: 10.1177/0893318905278539.

2. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (2005). Crash landing at Sioux City.² Seconds from disaster (USA), 2005. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 retrieved from YouTube on 21 March 2009.

3. WIKIPEDIA (undated). United Airlines Flight 232. Retrieved from Wikipedia on 11 May 2009.

Want to know more?

Aviation Safety Network - United Flight 232

This site offers tabulated information about the occurrence, as well as photos and a link to the investigation report.

Wikipedia - United Airlines Flight 232

The Wikipedia page "United Airlines Flight 232" offers more detailed information about this occurrence.

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Contributors to this page

Authors / Editors

Sojath1986
JDPerezgonzalez