aviation - the past, present and future of flight

-30 was  tted with an extra undercarriage

leg beneath the centre of the fuselage

between the two main ones. The  rst to

join American had previously been operated

by Air New Zealand. A typical route for the

-30 was to Europe.

The  eet grew in one giant leap when in

1984 Pan American, which had taken over

National Airlines, sold all but one of its DC-

10  eet to American. This comprised four

DC-10-30s and ten DC-10-10s. The airline

also added three DC-10-30ERs

By 1987, the  eet had reached its peak

with 51 -10s and 11 of the longer range

examples.

The DC-10-10s and DC-10-30s both

had the following con gurations: 16 in First

Class and 297 in Economy Class as well

as 35 in First and 256 in Economy. While

the DC-10-30ERs had 28 in First Class

Premium, 36 in Business Class and 180 in

Economy.

By now the luxury of two lounges had

long since gone because there were more

passengers  ying the long-haul high-

density routes around the continental

USA where the American aircraft typically

operated.

The  eet was based in Chicago, Dallas,

Honolulu, Los Angeles and Miami. They

were largely used on domestic services, as

well as to Europe, the Caribbean and Latin

America.

DARK CLOUDS

On June 12, 1972, less than a year after

the introduction of the DC-10 into service

came the  rst indication of a problem that

would haunt the type. Flight AA96 from

Los Angeles (LAX) to LaGuardia (LGA),

New York, with stops at Detroit (DTT) and

Buffalo was operated by N103AA.

Five minutes after take-off from Detroit,

with 56 passengers and 11 crew on

board, at an altitude of 11,750ft, the rear

cargo door broke off causing immediate

decompression. Part of the rear cabin  oor

collapsed, severing some of the control

cables including that of the centre engine.

All on board were lucky that Captain Bryce

McCormick, First Officer Peter Whitney,

and Flight Engineer Clayton Bruce, were

experienced airmen and able to control the

DC-10, making an emergency landing back

at Detroit with no loss of life.

The cause of the problem was for all to

see. Prior to this incident there had been

several reports of difficulty in closing the

door and the manufacturer had issued a

service bulletin calling for an upgrade in the

wiring that drove the latches. Modi cation

was not compulsory and that particular

airframe had not been updated. Eighteen

months later, a Turkish Airlines DC-10,

crashed shortly after taking off from Paris,

killing 346 people. It too had not been

modi ed.

The  rst fatal crash of an American

Airlines’ DC-10 occurred on May 25, 1979

at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport when -10

variant N110AA was operating  ight AA191

to Los Angeles.

The aircraft was rolling down Runway

32R at take-off speed when the number

one engine and its pylon detached from

the left wing, taking a section of the leading

edge with it.

It was too late to abandon take-off and

Above: An American Airlines’ DC-10-30 at Manchester Airport in 1987. It had diverted from Gatwick due to poor weather at the London airport.

Lee Holden

Bottom: DC-10-30 N143AA on approach to Miami in June 1989. The airport was a base for American Airlines DC-10s. Gerry Manning

68 Aviation News incorporating Jets January 2018

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