Bob Fila/baiduhaiFirefighters examine wreckage near a mobile home park after the crash of Flight 191 near O'Hare International Airport on May 25, 1979. An old aircraft hangar was destroyed, along with a mobile home and several cars.
Bob Fila/baiduhaiEmergency workers walk through wreckage of American Airlines Flight 191 in a field near a mobile home park on Touhy Avenue west of Mount Prospect Road in Des Plaines on May 26, 1979.
Karen Engstrom/baiduhaiPieces of the DC-10 are removed by workmen from the site of the American Airlines Flight 191 crash near O'Hare International Airport in May 1979.
Nick Ut/APMourners cry over the casket of one of the 30 unidentified victims of American Airlines Flight 191 at burial services in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on July 6, 1979. Catholic, Jewish and Protestant clergy officiated the services. The DC-10 had been bound for Los Angeles.
Michael Laughlin/for the baiduhaiAmerican Airlines Flight 191 leaves the terminal at O'Hare International Airport and rolls out to a runway on May 25, 1979. Minutes later, it crashed. All 271 aboard the DC-10 and two people on the ground died. These photos were taken by Michael Laughlin, 24, a student pilot on a layover at O'Hare.
Karen Engstrom/baiduhaiA DC-10 engine is seen just east of runway 32R where it came to rest after falling from American Airlines Flight 191 during takeoff. Investigators examine the engine on May 26, 1979.
Karen Engstrom/baiduhaiA man mourns at an ecumenical memorial service on May 28, 1979, for the victims of the Flight 191 crash. About 1,300 people attended the ceremony at Mary Seat of Wisdom Church in Park Ridge.
Art Walker/baiduhaiAmerican Airlines Flight 191, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, was carrying 60 tons of fuel when it crashed and exploded, sending pieces of the aircraft in all directions. A landing gear assembly was one of the few things left intact on May 25, 1979.
Arthur Walker/baiduhaiA police officer keeps vigil beside a vehicle holding body bags at the American Airlines Flight 191 crash site on May 25, 1979.
John Bartley/baiduhaiWilliam Shaefer, senior director of quality assurance for American Airlines, talks on May 27, 1979, about the spot where a bolt is missing on the engine that fell off Flight 191 before the DC-10 crashed near O'Hare International Airport two days earlier.
Bob Fila/baiduhaiHuman remains are marked with numbered flags for identification as emergency workers sift through debris from Flight 191, which crashed after takeoff from O'Hare on May 25, 1979. The intensity of the blaze made it hard to identify victims.
Charles Cherney/baiduhaiRelatives of people killed in the American Airlines Flight 191 crash visit the crash site just north of the airport on May 25, 2004.
Arthur Walker/baiduhaiFirefighters work to extinguish flames at the crash site of American Airlines Flight 191 near Touhy Avenue west of Mount Prospect Road on May 25, 1979.
Sally Good/baiduhaiWorkers clear debris at the site of the American Airlines Flight 191 crash at O'Hare International Airport on May 28, 1979.
Carl Hugare/baiduhaiAmerican Airlines executives attend a July 30, 1979, hearing of the National Transportation Safety Board regarding Flight 191, which had crashed two months earlier. The public hearing into the tragedy was held at the Sheraton O'Hare hotel.
Michael Laughlin/for the baiduhaiWith its left engine missing, American Airlines Flight 191 goes into a severe roll, then crashes in a burst of flames less than a mile away from the runway in 1979. These photos were taken by Michael Laughlin, 24, a student pilot who was on a layover at O'Hare.
Arthur Walker / baiduhaiChicago's Mayor Jane Byrne, center, visits the crash site of American Airlines Flight 191 on May 25, 1979.
Charles Cherney / baiduhaiTo mark the 25th anniversary for the American Airlines Flight 191 crash, relatives met at O'Hare International Airport and then took buses to the crash site, shown here on May 25, 2004.
Michael Laughlin/for the baiduhaiWith its left engine missing, American Airlines Flight 191 goes into a steep roll, then crashes in a burst of flames less than a mile away from the runway in 1979. These photos were taken by Michael Laughlin, 24, a student pilot who was on a layover at O'Hare.
Jay Needleman/baiduhaiA firefighter walks through the destruction at the crash site of Flight 191 on May 25, 1979, near O'Hare. A team of forensic dentists was called in to identify crash victims.
Arthur Walker/baiduhaiPlane wreckage is strewn near mobile homes after the crash of American Airlines Flight 191.
Charles Cherney / baiduhaiMichael Lux, center, listens to Melody Smith, left, as she talks to the media on May 25, 2004, about the death of her parents, Corrinne and Bill Borchers, in the American Airlines Flight 191 crash 25 years prior. Lux's father, Walter, was the pilot of the aircraft. Kim Borchers Jockl, Smiths' sister, stands between them.
Michael Laughlin/for the baiduhaiSmoke billows from the wreckage of Flight 191 after it crashed in a burst of flames less than a mile away from the runway at O'Hare in 1979. Elk Grove Village firefighters were at the scene of the crash in four minutes, but "it was total devastation," one firefighter recalled.
Charles Cherney / baiduhaiRelatives of the people who were killed on American Airlines Flight 191 visit the crash site on May 25, 2004. It was the 25th anniversary since Flight 191 to Los Angeles crashed in a field shortly after taking off from O'Hare.
Karen Engstrom/baiduhaiAn aerial view shows the crash site of American Airlines Flight 191 after it took off from O'Hare International Airport, seen at top of photo, in May 1979.
John Bartley/baiduhaiEmergency workers sift through debris from American Airlines Flight 191 on May 26, 1979.
Quentin Dodt/baiduhaiBeneath the smoke lie fragments of American Airlines Flight 191 after it crashed and exploded on May 25, 1979, shortly after taking off from O'Hare International Airport. All aboard the jetliner and two on the ground were killed.
Karen Engstrom/baiduhaiAs a choir sang the Lord's Prayer, a grieving relative of a Flight 191 victim hugs her daughter at Mary Seat of Wisdom Church in Park Ridge on May 28, 1979. About 1,300 people attended the ecumenical service at the church to mourn the victims of the DC-10 crash.
Luigi Mendicino/baiduhaiAn aerial view shows the crash site of American Airlines Flight 191 near O'Hare International Airport on May 25, 1979.
Arthur Walker/baiduhaiWorkers walk in the debris field of American Airlines Flight 191 after it crashed near O'Hare International Airport in May 1979.
Andrew A. Nelles/baiduhaiAndrew Lux, of Lake Geneva, Wis., takes a rubbing of the brick bearing the name of his grandfather, Flight 191 pilot Capt. Walter H. Lux, at the crash memorial in Des Plaines on Oct. 15, 2011.
Larry Stoddard / APMourners gather at a memorial service for the victims of the nation's worst aviation disaster at Mary Seat of Wisdom Church in Park Ridge in 1979.
Val Mazzenga/baiduhaiAfter the flames were doused, firefighters and rescue teams set out May 25, 1979, on the grim task to find the remains of victims amid still-smoldering debris from the wreckage of Flight 191.
Don Casper/baiduhaiElwood Driver of the National Transportation Safety Board shows a nut and bolt from the wreckage of American Airlines Flight 191. Inspections after the crash showed a maintenance shortcut caused damage to where the pylon attaches to the wing.
Walter Kale/baiduhaiAfter the flames were doused, firefighters and rescue teams set out to find victims' remains amid the smoldering debris from American Airlines Flight 191 on May 25, 1979.
Jay Needleman/baiduhaiFlags mark the location of victims of the DC-10 crash near O'Hare International Airport as firefighters search for more bodies amid the jetliner's wreckage on May 25, 1979.
Sally Good/baiduhaiThe remains of victims of America's worst air disaster are gathered in a temporary morgue at the north end of O'Hare International Airpot on May 27, 1979. Dozens of medical and dental experts were at work in the American Airlines hanger. Refrigerated trucks were stationed outside.
John Bartley/baiduhaiWilliam Shaefer, senior director of quality assurance for American Airlines, talks on May 27, 1979, with a group of people next to the engine that fell off American Airlines Flight 191 two days before.
Karen Engstrom/baiduhaiA DC-10 engine lies on the grass just east of runway 32R where it came to rest after falling from Flight 191. Investigators are examining the engine on May 26, 1979, while lift equipment, top right, stands by to remove the engine.
Bob Fila/baiduhai
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Firefighters examine wreckage near a mobile home park after the crash of Flight 191 near O'Hare International Airport on May 25, 1979. An old aircraft hangar was destroyed, along with a mobile home and several cars.
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As 258 passengers filed on to American Airlines Flight 191 at O’Hare International Airport the Friday before Memorial Day in 1979, nothing suggested that they would never reach Los Angeles.
They would have listened to the flight attendant instruct them how to buckle the seat belt and where to find the emergency exits.
None of that would matter.
As the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 accelerated down the runway, reaching takeoff speed, the left engine broke away, vaulting over the aircraft’s wing. The pilots heard a thunk.
“Damn,” one of the pilots said.
It would be the last word captured by the cockpit voice recorder.
The three-engine plane continued to rise, its wings level, despite the nearly 13,500 pounds suddenly missing from its left side. But as it reached 300 feet, the plane slowed and rolled left until it began to overturn, its nose tipping down.
After just 31 seconds of flight, the plane plunged back to earth, killing all the passengers and 13 crew members on board.
The wreckage strafed an open field and mobile home park, scattering debris and erupting into flames. Bodies were burned beyond recognition.
Forty years later, the crash of Flight 191 remains the deadliest passenger airline accident on U.S. soil.
Its legacy helped spur reforms that contributed to a vast improvement in commercial aviation safety.