Ghosts of 191: The Crash Site that Continues to Haunt Chicago to this Day – AeroXplorer.com
The Flight That Began Like Any Other
American Airlines Flight 191 was a scheduled passenger service operating from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport on May 25, 1979. The aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10, a wide-body jet powered by three engines: two mounted beneath the wings and a third positioned at the rear of the fuselage near the base of the tail.
The DC-10 had been designed to carry large numbers of passengers over
long distances. Its wide cabin, three-engine configuration, and long-range capabilities made it a significant aircraft in the development of commercial air travel during the 1970s.
On that late-May afternoon, passengers boarded Flight 191 expecting to travel across the United States. The crew prepared the aircraft for departure, and the normal checks and procedures associated with a scheduled flight took place. Nothing about the passengers’ routine preparations could have revealed the chain of events that was about to unfold.
