72 Vol. 9 / No. 12/ December/January 2017/18 Global Aviator
Book review
When American Airlines Flight 96 took
off from Detroit en route to Buffalo on
12 June, 1972, there was no thought
of the disaster that was to render the
airliner almost uncontrollable just five
minutes after take-off. A powerful
explosion ripped a gaping hole in the
bottom of the aircraft, severed part of
the cabin floor, severing the hydraulics.
but somehow despite the damage and
the chaotic situation in the aircraft,
the pilots were able to control the
aircraft to make a safe crash landing,
in a large part thanks to the flight
captain whose wariness of the DC10
led to him taking extra instructions
in how to fly an uncontrolled plane.
FAA investigators found that
the rear cargo door did not always
lock properly. Suggestions were
made to McDonnell Douglas and
the airline operators that newlatches be fitted but, for various
reasons, this was never done.
Two years later on 3 March
1974, this oversight was to result in
a similar situation but this time 346
people died when Turkish Airlines
Flight 981, departing from Paris/
Orly Airport en route to London
Heathrow, fell out of the sky shortly
after departure. The plane crashed into
a forest called Ermenonville and crew
and passengers lay scattered in tiny
pieces, amid the detritus of the DC10
which had carried them to their deaths.
That aircraft had crashed because a
cargo door had come loose during
the take-off, causing an explosive
decompression, which collapsed
part of the floor, severing most of the
hydraulics needed to fly the plane.
Author Samme Chittum takes
a look at the two crashes caused byThe Flight 981 Disaster: tragedy, treachery,
and the pursuit of truth (Air Disasters)
cargo door problems in her book titled
"The Flight 981 Disaster: Tragedy,
Treachery, and the Pursuit of Truth".
She also includes two other fatal
crashes of DC10s – one in Chicago