My brother Ralphie was driving up Elmhurst after his shift in Northlake, going to his girlfriend's or something as he always did on Friday. He saw the DC-10 turn and it looked to him from like a mile away it was going to crash onto Elmhurst in front of him. He literally shit his pants. No joke. He came up all shook up and told us what had just happened. We didn't know yet. Our house was soundproof due to O'Hare nearby. We thought he was joking and making one up because of his messed pants.

@bokabeed hey, asshole, what could you possibly know about being a medic? you'd be the type who would shit his pants at the sight of a mass casualty incident, fuckin pussy

Very scary. NO survivors.

@pljenkins522 yep. the crew followed procedures, which were wrong. But the real cause was the negligence of the american repair crew/engineers when they took the short cut to inspect the engine mount joints.

I grew up in Elk Grove, so this is really powerful for me

interesting and sad

I so remembered when that happened. I actually was on a flight bound for LAX 2 days later. I was on leave from a Military Academy in WI when that happened. Man did I have the shits when we took off from the very same runway and seeing the crash site below was pretty heart wrenching.

Knuckleheads.. This had nothing to do with pilot error. The crew did exactly what they were supposed to do when an engine fails. What the crew didn't, and thanks to the damage couldn't have known, was the port slats lost pressure and retracted, stalling the port wing and spinning the airplane.

It was NOT pilot error!For one, the crew did not know that the engine was gone, and the lost engine damaged the slats of the left wing. So, they followed procedure when theres a problem w an engine on takeoff. Which is to reduce power slightly on the main engine to procede with a possible return to airport...... BUT while all this is going on the left wing all of a sudden loses lift because the slats and flaps failed because of lost hydraulic fluid. hencew the sudden bank to the left,& stall

I wonder what it must have been like to be on Ambulance 321. From what I can tell they were very first responders. No wander they were so frantic sounding. It kinda sounded like a newbie medic though.

My friend lived on Sprucewood Avenue in Des Plaines and recently told me that the explosion almost shattered her home's windows. She was 12 years old.

Can't blame the flight crew, sorry. Procedure at the time was to trade airspeed for altitude. When they slowed to V2, that was it. All left system hydraulic plumming and left electrical wiring ran forward of the front wing spar. All were ripped apart as the engine detached and went back over the wing. All that mist you see comming out of the left wing area in the famous picture is most likely Skydrol (hydraulic fluid).

with the slats retracting there was no turning back anyway...that interesting what your saying though..the media dosen't tell the whole story.

sorry...that figure's..a managment call..while the media doesn't tell the whole story..

MyGetitThis was pilot error also that cut the engines before the crash. I was less than 25 yards from impact.

Well, not quite. AA like all the other airlines are always looking to cut costs. It was deemed cheaper to remove the engine from the wing with the pylon still attached instead of removing the engine from the pylon; this was not standard procedure. I know two guys that removed THAT engine from N110AA. They were instructed by management to use this non standard procedure. The crew chief in charge of the engine change killed himself, while AA made money on the crash from the insurance settlement.

all this death because some guy on a fork lift jamed the engine an pylon assembly onto the wing to save time! my father knew one of the passengers on the plane he was going to a book convention

I pass by this trailer park every weekday to work. At the beginning you hear ... "standard oil," There are some oil tanks next to the trailer park on Elmhurst road and Touhy, They probably thought that exploded.

Hi Koramu, This was in '79 wayy after Vietnam War.why the ha,ha..nothin' funny about this,I witnessed it & lived nearby (schiller park0I was 11 yrs old,very terrifying.

hi dtetz, Yes I remember hearing that,wow she felt uineasy..and to witness that really happe3ning after feeling that before hand..wow!..I lived in Schiller Park,the man I met 12 yrs later said he seen it driving home on expressway after working in the city with his friend.He seen the explosion!