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N0KFQ > TODAY 03.03.08 08:00l 63 Lines 3012 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 14647_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Mar 3
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Sent: 080302/1601Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:14647 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:14647_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@ALLUS
March 3, 1974
Faulty door dooms plane
A DC-10 jet crashes into a forest outside of Paris, France,
killing all 346 people on board, on this day in 1974. The poor
design of the plane, as well as negligent maintenance,
contributed to the disaster.
Nearly two years earlier, on June 6, 1972, an American Airlines
DC-10 was flying over Ontario, Canada, when its rear-hatch door
blew off and tore a hole in the fuselage. The plane’s cabin lost
pressure and the cabin floor collapsed. Clouds of dust and bits
of metal filled the plane’s interior and some key cables were
severed. Still, the pilot was able to get the jet under control
and managed to safely land the plane in Detroit. Later, it was
determined that the latching mechanism on the door was designed
poorly, leading to the catastrophe.
Modifications to the mechanism were recommended, but no
systematic recall system was undertaken to implement the
modifications. In fact, new DC-10s came off the assembly line
with the old latching mechanism. One of these planes was sold to
Turkish Airlines, which put the plane into service immediately.
On March 3, 1974, British European Airways was unable to make its
scheduled flights due to a strike by its workers. When Turkish
Airlines Flight 981 arrived in Paris from Istanbul, many
passengers scheduled to fly on British European Airways
transferred to 981 for its final leg to London. Many potential
passengers were turned away from the full flight, including the
Bury St. Edmunds rugby team from England. Meanwhile, maintenance
on the DC-10 was suffering a fatal breakdown. The station
mechanic was supposed to do a visual inspection of the rear hatch
door. However, the station mechanic was on vacation on this day
and the flight engineer apparently forgot to assume this duty.
When the plane took off with the faulty hatch door improperly
locked, the flight was doomed. At 12:30 p.m., as the plane
reached an altitude of 11,000 feet just after takeoff, the rear
hatch door blew off over Coulommiers, France. As with the
previous flight over Canada, a rapid decompression followed. The
last two rows of seats on the DC-10 were sucked right out of a
hole in the fuselage. The six passengers in those seats were
killed immediately when they fell into a turnip field in St.
Pathus.
The other 340 people on board had to endure 90 more seconds in
the air. The pilots were unable to control the plane because all
the critical hydraulic cables had been severed. The plane slammed
into the ground at 500 miles per hour, killing everyone on board.
The impact was so severe that only 40 bodies were found intact.
In the aftermath, McDonnell Douglas, the plane’s manufacturer,
sought to blame a baggage handler for failing to properly secure
the hatch. This prompted the baggage handlers’ union to boycott
all DC-10s until a company emissary finally apologized. Following
this disaster, all DC-10s were recalled to modify the rear-hatch
latching mechanism.
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