June 25, 2025 • 57 mins
On July 19, 1989, United Airlines Flight 232 departed Denver for what should have been a routine flight to Chicago. At 37,000 feet over Iowa, a catastrophic engine failure led to the complete loss of all hydraulic systems - a failure so rare it was considered impossible, with odds calculated at a billion to one. With no flight controls, Captain Al Haynes and his crew faced an unprecedented challenge: how to land a DC-10 using only engine power. When passenger Dennis "Denny" Fitch, a DC-10 training instructor, volunteered to help, the stage was set for one of aviation's greatest demonstrations of teamwork and skill. Discover how their extraordinary crew resource management achieved what experts called "The Impossible Landing" and changed aviation safety forever.
Sources:
- Mayday: Air Disasters - Season 11, Episode 13, titled "Impossible Landing"
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Report NTSB/AAR-90/06
- United Airlines Flight 232 Wikipedia entry
- Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival by Laurence Gonzales
Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:
- Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
- Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
- Facebook: Final Boarding Call
Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Picture this, it's a beautiful summerafternoon in 1989 and you are cruising
at 37,000 feet over the American Midwest.
The flight has been smooth as silk.
Then without warning, theaircraft shutters violently and
begins banking to the right.
(00:22):
In the cockpit, the pilotsdiscover that all of their flight
controls have stopped working.
But among the 296 people on boardis a passenger who happens to
be one of the most experiencedDC 10 pilots in the world.
Together, the crew is about to attemptsomething that has never been done before.
(00:44):
Land a jumbo jet using only engine power.
So stow your tray tables, fastenyour seat belts, and prepare for
some extreme turbulence becausethis is final boarding call.
I will now take this duck off my head.
(01:07):
You looked great though.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to Final Boarding Call.
I am your disaster obsessed host Alice.
And I am Zach, the one who shows upevery time, whether I'm reluctant or not.
But today is a great daybecause I am not falling asleep.
While we record, we are recording midday.
(01:29):
This is crazy.
We have never beforerecorded during the day.
We always record this right beforewe're about to try and fall asleep.
And Zach is exhausted.
I'm exhausted.
And we're trying to makethe most of the situation.
So maybe you can.
Feel our enthusiasmacross the radio waves.
I have had a couple of moments that aresimilar to when we're in bed watching tv
(01:52):
and you like, roll over, are you sleeping?
And I like jolt awake andI'm like, absolutely not.
I'm fine.
You fall asleep on the podcast.
I wouldn't call it falling asleep.
And it was for one episode ever.
And I was just, I was exhausted and itwas when we were laying in bed too, so
I was like laying back kind of comfy.
(02:17):
Well, I love you.
Do you have any reminders forthe people before we dive in?
Please rate, review and subscribewherever you get your podcasts.
Boop.
Okay.
Sources.
So this episode is one of the craziestaviation incidents of all time.
I'm a big fan.
(02:37):
Not everybody makes it so I,maybe I shouldn't say that.
I'm a big fan.
The story, she's a huge fanof death and dismemberment.
No, it's horrible.
No.
But to me this is pilots beingultimate badass is kind of story.
So here are my sources.
Obviously, I got an airdisaster for this one.
We've got season 11, episode13 titled Impossible Landing.
(03:02):
I did do a little bit of researchinto the NTSB investigation reports.
And obviously Wikipedia came into playvery lightly on this episode, actually.
The air disaster did a wonderfuljob telling this story.
Okay, Zach, do you wanna know whyI was passionate about doing this
episode for this particular week?
(03:26):
Tell me why.
It's because the week that this isgoing to be released to the people
anniversary, we will be flying,oh, from Colorado to Chicago.
And this is the story of a flight.
From Colorado to Chicago.
(03:47):
You love to just put like a terrible dark.
I love it.
Thought in the world.
No, I love it.
I love it.
However, this flight's out of Denver.
We'll be flying out of ColoradoSprings, but it is fun to me that these
people were on a very similar flightthat we're gonna be doing and died.
Not all of them.
Okay, let's go.
July 19th, 1989.
(04:10):
It is a gorgeous summer dayin Denver, Colorado with clear
skies and perfect flying weather.
This, I actually forgot to mentionthis earlier, but this blew my
mind when I was researching this.
I actually thought that air disasters,the documentary series, got the
name of Denver's airport wrong.
(04:31):
I had to rewind three timesbecause they kept calling it
Stapleton International Airport.
And I was like, what is that?
Where is that?
That ain't Denver's airport.
Turns out it was.
So let me give you a little bit ofbackground here in the eighties,
stapleton International Airport, formerlyDenver Municipal Airport was Denver's
(04:56):
primary airport from 1929 to 1995.
It was subsequently replacedby what we all know.
Loathed has Denver International Airport.
I can't say love because Idon't know anybody who loves
DIA and all of its conspiracies.
I love it for those reasons.
(05:16):
The COSIes are cool, theconspiracies are cool.
But yes, DIA was opened in 1995.
And the airport property whereStapleton Airport used to live
is now a housing neighborhood.
Oh, that's called Stapleton Neighborhood.
Stapleton Housing District.
Stapleton Neighborhood.
(05:38):
Stapleton Housing District.
Okay, cool.
So anyway, that's important because I'mgonna reference Stapleton Airport, and
I just want people to know that I, Iknow the name of the airport in Denver.
I live here, so I just want peopleto know that but the eighties, yes.
It threw me off, so I'm sure itwould throw somebody else off.
Anyways, these people, 285 passengers,they are boarding United Airlines
(06:03):
Flight 2 32 Bound for Chicago.
Continuing service toPhilly, Philadelphia.
I picked up on that one, butmaybe somebody wouldn't know.
Look, we're not gonnajudge our listener base.
All right?
We love them all.
Five and a half of you, the aircraftis a McDonald, Douglas, DC 10 10.
(06:26):
Is that correct?
But let me make sure thatthe DC 10 10 is a thing.
Is a thing before I tell allthese people what this plane is.
Yeah.
Let's make sure that it is a plane.
It is.
It is DC 10 10.
The DC 10 10.
It's going 10 tens Weird.
At the time of this story, which is 1989,this plane had been flying for not this
(06:53):
particular, I don't know if it's thisparticular plane, but DC tens in general
had been flying for nearly two decades.
So that model had comeout two decades prior.
It had a hell of a reputation.
Please listen to our some of ourepisodes covering DC tens and
the issues that they have had.
But at this time it had reallyrepaired its reputation.
(07:18):
So the issues that it washaving in the seventies, it was
like, wipe that slate clean.
We're safe again.
Fly DC 10.
This particular aircraft that we aretalking about is 18 years old and it
has logged over 43,000 flight hours.
That's a lot.
It can vote.
It's a lot of flight hours.
(07:39):
It's still going.
Let me introduce you to the flight crew.
Captain Alfred, see Al Hayes.
Okay.
We're gonna call him Al orHaynes, but he's 57 years old.
He is a veteran United Airlines pilotwith nearly 30,000 hours of flight time.
(07:59):
That's a big bunch.
And he has over 7,000 hoursspecifically in the DC 10.
He is known for his calm demeanorand exceptional professionalism.
Ooh, exceptional professionalism.
I love that.
Let's talk about our first officer.
First.
Officer William R.
Bill Records 48 Bill records love that.
(08:24):
He has 20,000 hours of total flight time.
He previously has flown forNational Airlines and Pan Am
before joining United in 1985.
He has 665 hours as aDC ten first officer.
And we have a flight engineer becauseit's 1989, so we still need one of those.
(08:47):
Our flight engineer is Dudley j Dak.
That's pretty good.
We'll call him Flight Engineer Dudley.
He's 51 and he washired by United in 1986.
He has around 15,000 hours of totalflight time with most of his DC 10
experience coming from his 33 hours asa flight engineer on this aircraft type.
(09:12):
So yeah we've got a solid team.
Solid team.
Also aboard Flight 2 32 is somebodywho will become crucial to our
story, though nobody knows it yetwhen they're all just boarding.
Dennis e, also known as Denny Fitch,who is 46 and he is deadheading.
(09:35):
And we use this term for the first timein our episode about the FedEx hijacking
and deadheading is when somebody travelsas a passenger while they are off duty.
So it's somebody who works in theairline industry, they're not working.
They are deadheading.
Fitch is not just any passenger, though.
He's a United Airlines DC 10 trainingcheck pilot, meaning he is one of the
(10:00):
most experienced DC 10 pilots in theworld, not just the city, the world.
Craig,
get yourself a sticker.
Let me know who said it.
He is responsible for trainingand evaluating other pilots
on this aircraft type.
Okay?
It is worth noting that today nottoday, that you're listening to
(10:21):
this today, as in July 19th, 1989.
Is Children's Day at UnitedAirlines, which is a special,
which is a special promotion wherechildren's tickets cost one penny.
God, I wish what I would do, it would bean ideal situation for Children's Day.
(10:43):
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
As a result this is a corporateAmerica flying nightmare.
There are 52 children, ugh, on this point.
So for somebody like me who travelsconstantly for work I love when
there is a handful a scatteringof kids amongst the aircraft.
(11:06):
52 children.
Oh my God.
Including four lap children,which are infants that are too
young to require their own seats.
All of our parents will know that.
But if you're cool, hip, don't havekids you don't have to pay for a ticket
if your kiddo is under the age of twobecause they can just sit on your lap and
(11:29):
you will lose all feeling in your legs.
Among the adult passengers is JerryChael, who is a basketball executive
heading to Chicago for a college draftat 2:09 PM Central Daylight time.
Flight 2 32, pushes back from the gateand takes off into the clear Colorado sky.
(11:49):
The flight plan calls for a cruisingaltitude of 37,000 feet, and the journey
to Chicago should take about two hours.
The takeoff and initialclimb are completely normal.
The aircraft performs flawlessly as itclimbs through the thin mountain air
and levels off at cruising altitude.
Lunch is served because this is backwhen you got food on an airplane,
(12:15):
how gangster passengers settle infor the flight and everything seems
perfect for what would be a routinejourney across America's heartland.
Captain Haynes would later describethe flight as absolutely normal in
all respects, which sounds accuratefor a guy who's professional.
He's just a professional guy.
(12:36):
Yeah, he is a, yeah, very professional.
The airplane was trimmed properly,the crew was enjoying coffee,
and the weather was beautiful.
There was no reason to expectanything other than a perfectly
routine flight, but I.
We wouldn't be talking about this onour podcast if this plane just took
(12:56):
off and landed normally in Chicago.
Fact Fact, at 3:16 PM exactly onehour and seven minutes after takeoff,
everything changes in an instant.
Flight 2 32 is cruisingpeacefully at 37,000 feet.
When there is a tremendousexplosion from the rear of the
(13:18):
aircraft, the sound is deafening.
Jerry, who is the basketball executivelater recalls that it was like being
thrown into a great big tornado.
One moment, everything was smooth,and the next, it was pure chaos.
The explosion comes from theDC tens tail mounted engine.
(13:39):
Which is the number two engine.
That's the tail mounted one.
Okay.
I don't know why that seemslike such a fun fact for you.
Because in a previous episodewe talked about a, an engine
on the DC 10 that fell off.
Yeah.
The number one engine.
The number one engine, whichwas the engine on the left.
(13:59):
Left, yeah.
Yeah.
I'm giving you this facebecause we're learning.
Zach, this is a partiallyeducational podcast.
I say educational very loosely.
You're just that mom that wants herkid to be learning something, so
it doesn't matter what they watchas long as there is a factoid.
Yeah, this is, okay.
(14:22):
The number two engine is thetail mounted engine, and this
is the one that has exploded.
Okay.
Inside that engine, a massivefan disc weighing nearly 400
pounds and measuring 32 inches indiameter has just disintegrated.
It's like turbine wheels on a turbo.
(14:43):
Correct.
Except again, this is aplane and it's 400 pounds.
Yeah.
So a bigger scale, same thing.
Yes.
The exact same thing.
To understand what happened, I need toexplain how Jet engines work briefly.
The fan disc is one of the mostcritical components of a Turbo fan jet.
(15:06):
It is a massive titanium disc that spinsat thousands of revolutions per minute.
People that drive manual cars, ormaybe not, man, I don't know if
people that drive automatics arereally super familiar with their RPM
concept, but, rPM is a term that ithas to do with rotations per minute.
(15:27):
This spins in the thousands, asdoes technically a car engine as
well with dozens of fan bladesattached around its circumference.
So that's cool.
We're gonna show pictures of this justso that people get an idea, 'cause it's
hard for me to describe what it is.
These blades pull enormousamounts of air into the engine,
(15:52):
zach, how does an engine work?
Why don't you just briefly explainthe three key components that you
need to make an engine function?
You need air, fuel, andfire, air, fuel and fire.
I think I just stuttered when I said that.
Air fire.
(16:13):
Yes.
That is critical.
And the blades are pullingin air, which is obviously a
critical part of this equation.
It's what provides the most thrustthat pushes the aircraft forward.
When the fan disc breaks apartwhat engineers call an uncontained
(16:35):
failure, it releases energyequivalent to a bomb explosion.
Chunks of titanium alloy.
Each weighing dozens of pounds arehurled outward at tremendous speeds.
Acting like high velocity shrapnel.
In the cockpit first, officer Billrecords immediately takes manual
(16:55):
control as the autopilot disconnects.
It was like, audio Scho, I'm out.
You later.
Captain Haynes focuses onthe failed engine trying to
understand what is happening.
The engine instruments show itsmalfunctioning and flight engineer
A Dudley shuts off the fuelsupply to prevent further damage.
(17:18):
Smart think and dly.
But they quickly realize that thisisn't just an engine failure Records
discovers that the aircraft isn'tresponding to his control inputs.
Even with the control column, turnedall the way to the left and pulled all
the way back inputs that would neverbe used together in normal flight,
(17:40):
the aircraft continues banking tothe right with the nose dropping.
That's not good.
Captain Haynes tries to help levelthe aircraft with his own control
column, and both pilots worktogether, but nothing happens.
The aircraft seems to havea mind of its own banking.
Further and further to the right,then flight engineer Dudley delivers
(18:04):
the news that changes everything.
We have no hydraulic fluid left.
All systems are down to zero, all three.
What is it with them in theirhydraulics, in the engines where
they're just like, oh, let's puteverything here with no fail.
Save.
Oh man, DC 10.
Okay.
This announcement is met with disbelief.
(18:28):
That's impossible.
Someone responds, and from an engineeringstandpoint, it should be impossible.
The DC 10 has three completelyindependent hydraulic systems.
Each one is powered by one ofthe aircraft's three engines.
These systems are designed withwhat engineers call redundancy.
(18:51):
Also keyword in the day center industry.
If one fails, the other two canhandle all flight control functions.
If two fails, the remaining systemcan still control the aircraft
though with reduced capabilities.
But all three systems failingsimultaneously was considered so remote
(19:13):
with odds calculated to a billion to one.
They won the lottery.
Oh no, this is not the lottery one win.
No emergency procedures had everbeen written for such an event.
Was that Benji?
Yep.
Our grumbly old boy.
(19:34):
Grumbly old dog.
It was literally considered impossible.
Here's why.
Hydraulic failure is socatastrophic on a large aircraft.
Unlike small planes where the pilots canphysically move control surfaces through
cables and pulleys, jets like the DC10 rely entirely on hydraulic power to
(19:56):
move their massive control surfaces.
For our non-technical folks outthere, think of hydraulics like
the muscle of the aircraft.
Pressurized fluid flows through linesthroughout the plane, powering actuators
that move the elevators, ailerons,rudders, and other control surfaces.
(20:17):
When pilots move their controls,they are not directly moving these
surfaces, so they're not like pullingstrings and something happens.
They are sending signals tohydraulic actuators that do the
heavy lifting against reallytremendous aerodynamic forces.
The moral of this story, folks,is that with no hydraulics,
(20:39):
you're gonna have a bad time.
The flight controls becomecompletely useless, completely.
The control yolk, rudderpedals, trim wheels.
Are essentially disconnectedfrom the aircraft.
The pilots might as wellthrow them out the window.
But Captain Haynes and his crewaren't ready to give up because that
(21:02):
would mean that they would all die.
So this is good.
In a moment of inspiration, theydecide to try something that
has never been attempted before.
On a commercial airliner, they'reflying using only engine power.
They're about to throttle this thing.
Give her a go.
Give her a go.
We're gonna see how it goes.
(21:23):
They're going to steer usingthrottle that you're going to
change elevation using only throttlewith no flight controls available.
The crew of Flight 2 32 facesa situation that no commercial
pilot has ever encountered.
They have two wing mounted enginesthat are still running normally,
and they decide to use these enginesas their only means of control.
(21:47):
It really is like driving Subaru.
You can't turn it, it just screams at you.
The physics are simple in theory,but incredibly difficult in practice.
I.
By adding power to both engines, theycan create more lift and raise the nose.
By reducing power, the nosewill drop to turn right.
(22:08):
They can add power to the left enginewhile reducing power to the right
engine, creating asymmetric thrustthat should push the aircraft around.
But the margins for error are microscopic.
Too much power in the aircraft climbstoo steeply threatening a stall.
We know this folks.
(22:28):
Planes do not like climbing at acrazy, steep angle, too little power,
and it dives towards the ground.
Every single throttle movement mustbe precise and coordinated initially.
These efforts seem to work.
By carefully adjusting engine power.
They manage to level the aircraft andstop its dangerous right bank, but
(22:53):
they quickly discover another problem.
The aircraft wants to oscillate up anddown in what is called a fu go cycle.
Foid, I'm not sure who cameup with that, but yeah,
think of a fugo cycle as a little bitof a rollercoaster ride when it's drawn,
(23:18):
like the flight path is actually drawnon a map, and you can visually see it.
It literally looks like it, likeclimb, climbs, goes down, climbs climb,
climbs, goes down over and over again.
Woo.
People with motion sickness, rough buckleup, like that's without the stabilizing
influence of working flight controls.
(23:38):
The DC 10 begins a reallyterrifying pattern.
It climbs until it losesspeed and begins to stall.
Then the nose drops and it dives untilit gains speed and begins to climb again.
Each cycle costs them about1500 feet of altitude.
The crew contacts our traffic controland declares an emergency requesting
(24:03):
vectors to the nearest airport,which just happens to be Sioux
Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa.
55 miles away, they're gonnahave to limp This puppy 55 miles
for a plane is real fast though.
That's just descent time.
Yeah.
There is not really dissentor gain in this situation.
(24:23):
There is just like buckle up and holdon and do your best, turn your car off.
Hope it starts again.
Oh God.
During this critical phase, theyrealize that they need help.
Flight attendant, Jan Brown lore,relays a message from the cabin.
There's a DC 10 training checkpilot among the passengers
who's volunteered to assist.
(24:45):
So he is just sitting in there,sitting in that cabin, waiting
for his moment to say, chillax in.
And she goes back there and she's hi,we are having a DC 10 crisis help.
And he is like, Hey, I got you.
I'm Denny Fitch, baby.
It's me, ya boy.
(25:05):
His presence on this flight isabout to become crucial to the
survival of everyone on board.
I don't know if anybody ever playedthe um, there was a Shrek video game.
I think it was on the original.
We and it was, they did this thing.
They were like, hero time.
(25:26):
Oh my.
And that's what this reminds me of.
This is I have hero time.
I hope he was really dramatic about it.
They come back like, we need you to saveeverybody here, and he's fine Again.
Okay.
Fitch makes his way to the cockpitwhere he is shocked by what he sees.
Both Captain Haynes and FirstOfficer records are gripping their
(25:48):
control columns with white knuckles.
Their forearms are tents tryingdesperately to fly an aircraft
that won't respond to their inputs.
When Dennis Fitch takes in the situation,all three hydraulic systems failed.
No flight controls flyingby engine power alone.
His immediate thought is stark and simple.
(26:09):
Denny, today is the day you're gonna die.
Damn it.
Oh, but Dennis doesn't panic.
That's an insight thought.
Instead, he positions himself betweenthe two pilots and takes control of the
throttles with one throttle in each hand.
He begins to learn how toquote unquote, fly the DC 10
using nothing but engine power.
(26:32):
What follows is an extraordinarydisplay of teamwork and skill.
Captain Haynes continues working hisuseless control column, hoping against
hope that there is some sort of hydraulicpressure that might return first.
Officer records, monitors instruments andcommunicates with air traffic control.
Flight engineer Dudley managesthe aircraft's systems.
(26:56):
And Denny Fitch, the passenger turnedcrew member, essentially becomes the
person actually flying the aircraftthrough throttle manipulation.
So Denny Fitch quicklydevelops an intuitive feel
for the aircraft's behavior.
He learns to sense when theplane is about to climb or dive
(27:17):
and adjust power accordingly.
Zach, what would you sayhe is doing right now?
He's feeling it.
He's feeling it.
He's a drifter at heart.
He's a drifter.
He so is.
That is the first timeI ever tried drifting.
I begged Zach for like concretedirections on what to do and verbatim.
He told me to feel it.
(27:40):
You and Denny Cher.
Once you feel it, BF,you gotta figure it out.
Ugh, God.
He learns to sense when theplane is about to climb, dive
and he adjust power accordingly.
He discovers that the damaged aircrafthas a strong tendency to turn right,
making left turns difficult and dangerous.
(28:01):
As they approach Sioux City, they realizethey'll have to execute a series of right
hand turns to line up with the airport.
Which is good because turningleft is don't work so good.
Yeah, it doesn't work really good,but I guess if you turn right
enough times, three rights, make aleft, you'll eventually turn left.
Each turn is a delicate balanceof power adjustments and each one
(28:25):
brings them closer to the groundwith no guarantee that they will
be able to complete a safe landing.
The crew faces another critical decisionshould they deploy the landing gear.
Normally, this would be an easy choice.
Yes, you want landing gearwhen you're landing a plane.
(28:46):
But with that extra drag, whenyou have no control lease yeah.
It turns out that without hydraulics,they'll have to use gravity to drop the
gear and hope that it locks in place.
The added drag might help slowthe aircraft, but it also would
make controlling the aircraft,it would dip the nose further.
(29:07):
Yeah.
It, we don't, yeah, actually, Ibet that's exactly what I would do.
I bet it would dip the nose.
That's a scientific thought.
That wasn't just me talking shit.
God, you're so smart,
brilliant, brilliant.
They decide to lower the gearand fortunately all three sets
lock into position properly.
The added drag helps stabilize theirflight path somewhat, but they are
(29:29):
still approaching much faster thannormal, over 200 knots instead of
the usual 140 knots for landing
As they line up for their final approachto Sioux City, everybody aboard.
Flight 2 32 knows that they'reabout to attempt something that
has never been done before.
Land a commercial airlinerwith no flight controls using
(29:52):
only engine power for control.
And I say that everybody,meaning the flight crew.
Everybody on that flight knew thatshit's going down for real, and
that day they ran outta rental cars.
Yeah.
I don't think these swivel aregetting back on a plane today.
Maybe.
Would you get back on a plane?
Yeah, probably.
What are the odds of you havingtwo bad things in a moment?
(30:12):
That's what I'm saying.
I honestly would be like, this is probablythe safest time for me to fly in my life.
Yeah.
Right now it can't happen twice.
Oh, we have so manybirds outside right now.
They're actually burbsand they're not real.
Okay.
As flight 2 32 approaches SueGateway Airport, the reality of
their situation becomes crystal clearbecause now you can see the runway
(30:38):
and you can see what you gotta do.
And it's not doing it.
It's.
I think really setting in that holyshit, this is gonna be really bad.
They are attempting something thataviation experts consider impossible.
Landing a DC 10 with no flight controlsat nearly twice the normal landing speed,
(30:59):
captain Haines makes a decision thatexemplifies the leadership and honesty
that will make this crew legendary.
Instead of offering falsereassurance, he tells the passengers
exactly what they're facing.
It's a bold strategy.
It's creating panic is scary,but people tend to just feel like
it's outta my hands in a plane.
(31:19):
So, so true.
But like we just talked about before,this moment, these people know that
something really bad is happeningon the aircraft, but they don't
know the extent of what's happening.
So he gets on the intercom, ladies andgentlemen, guess is Croton speaking.
We are attempting an emergencylanding in Sioux City.
(31:41):
This is going to be a crash landing.
Please review your emergency procedures.
This is going to be worse thananything you've ever been through
before and you need to be ready.
Is that what he actually said?
That is literally what he said, folks.
All right.
He literally said, this isgoing to be a crash landing.
Please review your emergency procedures.
(32:01):
This is going to be worse thananything you've ever been through
before and you need to be ready.
Ran Allen.
I love that.
Captain Haynes does not fuckaround because he is professional.
Professional.
Okay.
Jerry?
Jerry, the basketball executive.
(32:22):
Poor Jerry.
He later recalled being convincedthat he was not going to make it.
But Captain Haynes's honestyactually helped passengers prepare
mentally for what was coming.
Some wrote farewell lettersto their loved ones.
Others made peace with their situationand focused on helping fellow passengers.
Zach, what would you do?
(32:43):
I've got nothing to make peace with.
Are you there with me on this planeor is, have you ever flown without me?
Yes, once before we met.
Yeah.
If you weren't there, like I'm cool.
I'll just help some other people.
If you're there, I'm not sure you wouldlet me get up and do help anybody.
It would just be you and I together.
(33:05):
Are you trying to write mea note or send me a text or
you're right there next to me.
Why do I need to do that?
That's why we just asked, are you with me?
And you said, oh yeah, I'm yousaid that if you're, if I'm not
there, you're doing your own thing.
No.
Do you want me to send you a text?
No.
Forget it.
Last little bit.
I don't want it anymore.
Okay.
I think we're fighting in,
(33:26):
in the cockpit.
The crew continues.
They're desperate battleto control the aircraft.
They're descending it over1600 feet per minute faster
than the space shuttle lands.
Oh.
And they're approaching at about 220knots instead of the normal 140 knots.
(33:47):
Denny Fitch still controlling thethrottles, finds himself in an almost
mystical connection with the aircraft.
He is such a drifter.
He later described feeling like theairplane was becoming one with him,
sending him signals about what itwas going to do before it did it.
(34:08):
The approach requiresextraordinary precision.
Zach, as you probably can imagine.
Too much power and they will climb awayfrom the runway too little power, and
they will crash short of the runway.
Fitch must maintain just enough thrustto keep them on a descent path while
preventing the aircraft from stalling.
(34:29):
As they get closer to the runway,they encounter another problem.
How many problems could you have?
Nine to nine problems.
And they all bitches.
Yeah.
These are all, yeah.
This is rough.
They are not lined up perfectlywith the active runway.
How could you be?
They can't steer really.
(34:50):
Instead they're aligned witha shorter closed runway.
But they have no ability tomake fine course corrections.
They're gonna have to take whateverrunway they got, get her down.
Air traffic control recognizes thedesperateness of the situation and clears
them to land on any runway they need.
Find the ground.
(35:10):
Yeah.
Slowly.
When the controller adds, you want to beparticular and make it to a runway, huh?
Captain Hanes responds with nervouslaughter, a moment of dark humor in
the face of almost certain death.
In the final moments beforetouchdown, the aircraft begins
to behave erratically again.
The nose drops increasingtheir already dangerous speed.
(35:33):
The right wing starts to dip,threatening to cartwheel the aircraft.
Fitz realizes that he needs to addpower to prevent a catastrophic impact.
But first, officer records initiallycalls for him to reduce power.
The confusion lasts only seconds,but in those seconds, the fate of
296 people hangs in the balance.
(35:54):
Captain Haynes takes command.
Left throttle.
Left left.
He shouts trying to prevent theaircraft from rolling over the ground.
Proximity Warning systems begin blaring.
Whoop.
Pull up.
Whoop.
Pull up.
Okay, darling,
but there's nowhere to pull up.
Okay.
They're committed to this landingand in seconds they will know whether
(36:18):
they've achieved the impossible orwhether their heroic efforts will end
in tragedy at 4:00 PM central time.
Exactly.
44 minutes after the engineexplosion, United Airlines
Flight 2 32 approaches the runway
at Sioux Gateway Airport, the aircraftis descending at 1600 feet per minute and
(36:39):
traveling at 220 knots nearly twice thenormal landing speed in the final seconds.
Everything goes wrong at once.
The right wing drops dangerously lowthreatening to cartwheel the aircraft.
Denny Fitch pushes both throttles to fullpower in a desperate last ditch attempt
to level out the plane, but it's too late.
(37:01):
The right wing tips strikes the runwayfirst, and the impact is catastrophic.
The wing is torn off immediately spillingfuel that ignites into a massive fireball.
The aircraft bounces severaltimes, shedding landing gear
and engines with each impact.
(37:21):
What happens next?
Really defies description.
The main fuselage breaksinto several pieces.
The tail section separates completelyand the aircraft cartwheels end
over end before finally sliding toa stop upside down in a cornfield
(37:41):
beside the runway from the outside.
It appears that no one could havesurvived such a violent crash.
Emergency responders rushing to thescene expected to find no survivors,
but incredibly and impossibly peoplebegin emerging from the wreckage.
(38:04):
Jerry finds himself hangingupside down in his seat, initially
unsure if he's alive or dead.
When he realizes that hesurvived, he hears a baby crying
somewhere in the wreckage.
And without thinking aboutthe danger, he goes back into
the burning aircraft to help.
Throughout the wreckage,survivors are helping each other.
(38:24):
Flight attendants who survived theimpact work to evacuate passengers from
the burning sections of the aircraft.
Passengers help carry injuredfellow travelers to safety.
But the cockpit is nowhere to beseen for 35 agonizing minutes.
Rescuers search for any sign ofthe four man crew who fought so
(38:45):
hard to save everyone on board.
Then in a piece of wreckage, 180meters from the main crash site,
they find the cockpit completelyseparated from the rest of the
aircraft, but relatively intact inside.
All four crew members are alive.
(39:07):
It's incredible that allof these people are alive.
I wanna know what happened was the tailpeople, the first ones that were safe.
'cause I picture being separatedfrom the plane first is
probably the safest place to be.
Ooh, good predictions, Zach.
Okay, here we go.
Let's dive into that exact philosopher.
Captain Haynes is unconscious,but he is breathing First.
(39:29):
Officer records is pinned in the wreckage,but alert flight engineer dudley has
suffered serious injuries, but he is aliveand Denny Fitch, the passenger who became
a crew member and saved so many lives isseriously injured, but also conscious.
The final death toll is bothheartbreaking and miraculous.
(39:52):
Of the 296 people on board 112 died inthe crash, including 11 children is a
much higher number than I had in my head.
But I think in order to catch any kindof grasp of how violent that crash was,
you would have to see it in a video.
You can't just describe it and peopleunderstand unless they're pilots.
(40:13):
I have a video.
184 people survived one of the mostviolent aircraft accidents in history.
Most of the survivors were seated in themiddle and rear sections of the aircraft
behind first class and ahead of the wings.
The front section where firstclass passengers were seated
(40:35):
experienced deceleration forcesof over 100 times the force of
gravity, which is instantly fatal.
Tragically, 35 people died notfrom the impact, but from smoke
inhalation and in the post crash fire.
These deaths highlight the importance ofrapid evacuation from burning aircraft,
(40:55):
but they don't diminish the extraordinaryachievement of the crew because they were
alive upon touchdown of the airplane.
Just couldn't get resty there fast enough.
Correct.
And when you're in a fire, it doesn'ttake long for that fire to destroy you.
Especially when that much fuelis just fire balling, aviation
experts would later attempt toreproduce the crew's performance.
(41:19):
In flight simulators.
Not a single crew was able toachieve a survivable landing.
Most couldn't even getclose to an airport.
Hmm.
That's wild.
Yeah, that's insane.
I know that they always try to mimicand see if things could have gone
better for training purposes and forlegal purposes, but that's that would
(41:42):
be the first time that I ever heardthat people could not even do as well
as they did in the live scenario.
That's incredible.
The NTSB concluded that under thecircumstances, the crew performance
was highly commendable and greatlyexceeded reasonable expectations.
what the crew of Flight 2 32 accomplishedwas quite literally impossible, according
(42:03):
to the best aviation experts in the world.
So Zach, this has a happy ishending with many people surviving.
Obviously the deaths are tragic, butwe're still left with a puzzling question.
How could a single engine failure causeso much damage to an aircraft that was
(42:25):
designed with multiple backup systems?
The shrapnel exploded so viciously that itactually hit both other engines as well.
The engine was still running,but it lost its hydraulics.
Oh, let's see if you're right.
The key to solving this mystery is.
Finding the missing fan discfrom the number two engine.
(42:47):
The huge piece of titanium, whichwe already stated, weighs nearly
400 pounds had disappeared.
Where was it?
It was somewhere in the IowaCountryside General Electric.
The engine manufacturer offered a$50,000 reward for the disc and a
thousand dollars for each fan blade.
(43:09):
Three.
I know.
Three months after the crash, a farmernamed Janice Sorenson discovered the
crucial evidence and her cornfield abouta hundred kilometers from the airport.
When investigators examined therecovered fan desk, they found
that it had broken into two largepieces and almost unimaginable
(43:30):
failure for such a strong component.
The fracture showed clearevidence of fatigue cracking.
Mm Meaning the disc had been graduallyweakened over a long period of time.
Tracing the crack back to its origin.
Investigators found microscopicimpurities in the titanium alloy.
(43:51):
Specifically nitrogen and oxygencontamination that had made
the metal brittle in that area.
Garbage manufacturing, that's crazy.
The contamination occurred during themanufacturing process 18 years earlier.
Folks, when titanium is melted, itreacts with air creating impurities
(44:11):
that can initiate fatigue cracks.
To prevent this, the disc wasmanufactured using a double vacuum
process where the metal was melted twicein a vacuum to remove contaminants.
It's a cool process that it is.
However, some contamination remained.
(44:32):
Creating what?
Metall Large ma metallurgist ma metal.
It would be ma it would bea ma metallurgist, right?
Like a, an urges probably for metal.
Yeah.
Metallurgist.
(44:52):
I'll go with it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Woo.
That's a rough one.
They call that a hard alpha inclusion,a spot where the metal becomes
brittle and prone to cracking for18 years and over 15,000 flight
cycles, this microscopic crack.
Grew slowly with each enginestart and shut down the
(45:15):
repeated heating and cooling.
The stress of high speed rotationand the enormous forces involved in
flight gradually extended the crackuntil it reached a critical size.
And on July 19th, 1989, the crack finallygrew large enough to cause a failure.
The disc disintegrated, explosively,hurling chunks of titanium in all
(45:40):
directions, but that still didn'texplain how one engine failure could
disable all three hydraulic systems.
The answer lay in the DC tens designanother one so they weren't actually
redundant and separate systems.
Let's talk about it.
All three hydraulic systems convergedin the tail section of the aircraft.
(46:04):
Near the horizontal stabilizer.
The exploding fan disc sent shrapneldirectly into this area, severing all
three hydraulic lines simultaneously.
It was a design vulnerability that noone had anticipated, so the systems
were separate, but with this issue,it was essentially just like a knife.
(46:27):
Just cut all three of 'em.
Yeah, but it's not really alike safe redundancy system.
If all three lines stillgo to the same spot.
That's fair.
They need to be in completeseparate parts of the plane.
You should be designing airplanes,fucking a, I should be designing
(46:47):
a lot of things, but here youare on a podcast with me instead.
Fuck laughs a bitch, and then you die.
Eventually the investigation.
Also revealed a troublingmaintenance issue.
The crack should have been detectedduring routine inspections using
fluorescent dye penetrant testing.
(47:10):
Okay, that's fancy fluorescent dyepenetrant testing evidence showed that
the crack had been present and shouldhave been visible during a previous
inspection, but it was missed due toinadequate attention to human factors in
United Airlines Maintenance procedures.
The NTSB concluded that the probablecause was inadequate consideration
(47:33):
given to human factors, limitationsin the inspection, and quality
control procedures used by UnitedAirlines engine overhaul facility.
That makes sense.
The finding led to significantimprovements in both manufacturing
and maintenance procedures.
Titanium processing was changedto use a triple vacuum system.
(47:57):
If it doesn't work the firsttwo times, try it again.
Did that, Bobby, do it one more time.
If you do it one more time,it's guaranteed to work, it
won't be, that's gonna be pure.
Why don't they just have a service life,like on a timing belt where it's oh,
every fucking, 600 hours replace them.
Brilliant.
I know.
(48:18):
I know.
So they implemented the U triplevacuum process to eliminate
impurities more effectively.
Why not a four vacuum fucking aquadruple vacuum, give it to 'em.
Inspection procedures were enhancedwith better training and more , rigorous
quality control measures as well.
All right.
(48:38):
Okay.
The crash of Flight 2 32 became awatershed moment in aviation safety,
not just because of the lives lost, butbecause of the lesson lessons learned
from the crew's extraordinary performance.
The most significant legacy is in thearea of crew resource management or CRM.
This is the training philosophythat emphasizes teamwork along with
(49:02):
communication and using all availableresources in emergency situations.
Before the 1980s, airline cockpits,operated under a strict hierarchy,
which we have talked about before.
In tenor reef, captainis in charge of Alling.
Yes.
You don't question them.
That's exactly it, Zach.
It's like, I don't knowwho's running the ship?
(49:22):
People were scared to speak up.
And basically the moral of the storyis that crew members were expected
to follow orders without question 10.
Arif.
This led to several accidentswhere Copilots failed to speak
up about problems they observed.
10 Arif.
Thank you.
Captain Haynes.
Decision to accept help from passengerDenny Fitch exemplified the new CRM
(49:48):
philosophy Rather than insisting hecould handle the emergency alone,
Haynes recognized that Fitch's expertisecould absolutely help save lives.
And immediately he was like, that guy.
Need him.
Go get him please.
Fitch is on the case.
As Captain Haynes later explained,we had 103 years of flying
(50:09):
experience in that cockpit tryingto get that airplane on the ground.
Not one minute of whichwe had actually practiced.
So why would I know more about gettingthat airplane on the ground under
those conditions than the other three?
If I hadn't used CRM, if we had notlet everybody put their input in, it's
a cinch that we wouldn't have made it.
(50:30):
It's valid.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
The FAA made CRM training mandatory forall airline crews after flight 2 32.
And it's now considered one of the mostimportant developments in aviation safety.
This incident also led tosome aircraft design changes.
The poor McDonald DC 10.
(50:51):
We are, it's unfortunate that therehave been so many cases, like back
to back that are all about the DC 10.
It's really putting it ina not flattering light.
You gotta think these incidentsare all taking place over.
30 plus years and we'll have plenty oftime to make fun of the 7 37 and 7 47.
Amen.
Because they have plentyof issues going on too.
(51:11):
Oh God.
Boeing's like, hold my beer.
Yes.
The, so the McDonald Douglas MD 11, whichis the successor to the DC 10 incorporated
hydraulic fuses that could isolate damagedsections and prevent total fluid loss.
Similar modifications wereactually retrofitted into
(51:32):
existing DC tens as they should.
I can't hear you.
Just raise that up.
You raise me up as they should.
Perfect.
Modern aircraft now have backupflight control systems that can assist
pilots who lose hydraulic power.
Some advanced aircraft can evenbe controlled using engine thrust
alone with computer assistance.
(51:54):
If a car can do it, why can't a plane?
And this was designed as a directresult of the lessons learned from
Flight 2 32, which I think is so cool.
The manufacturing of titanium componentswas also revolutionized in air quotes.
The triple vacuum melting processvirtually eliminated the type
of contamination that causedthe fan disc failure virtually.
(52:19):
Mostly kind of, sort of mostlyeliminated, but also so did the
single vacuum and the double vacuum.
It's just, and now the triple babyvacuum more vacuum, more cowbell.
Enhanced inspection techniques are andbetter human factors training for that.
(52:41):
I wrote a sentence andit does not make sense.
Basically, they improved inspectiontechniques as well because that really
could have prevented this issue.
It was there, it just wasn't seen
all four crew members returned to flying
burb.
(53:01):
You see a bird standing on the ground.
Oh, hot bird.
Captain Haynes and first Officer recordswere back in the cockpit within a year.
Nice flight engineer.
Dudley recovered from his injuries andcontinued his career and Denny Fitch,
despite doctor's predictions that he wouldnever flight again due to his injuries.
(53:23):
Returned to Captain Status.
Only 18 months later.
Denny.
The crew received numerous awards,including the Polaris Award, which is the
highest civilian aviation decoration forexceptional airmanship and heroic actions.
Perhaps the most important recognitioncame from the aviation community itself.
(53:46):
Flight 2 32 is studied inaviation schools worldwide.
As an example of how proper crewresource management, quick thinking
and refusing to give up, canovercome seemingly impossible lots.
The crash also led to improvementswith emergency response.
So like we talked about, there were peoplewho were alive when this plane touched
(54:09):
down and they died as part of the fire.
They couldn't evacuate quick enough, thetiming of the accident during a shift
change of regional medical facilitiesand when the Iowa Air National Guard
was on duty at the airport contributedto the high survival rate, emergency
(54:29):
responders now train specificallyfor mass casualty aviation accidents.
Jerry, the passenger, who survivedand helped rescue others, went on
to become a radio broadcaster andwrote a book about his experience.
Many other survivors have sharedtheir stories contributing to our
understanding of both the physicaland the psychological aspects of
(54:50):
surviving a disaster of this scale.
There is a memorial to flight 2 32 thatstands along the Missouri River in Sioux
City, featuring a statue of Iowa NationalGuard, Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Nielsen,
carrying a three-year-old child to safety.
An image that captured the heroic responseof the local community, sick, all right,
(55:15):
so against all odds, they managed.
They managed.
It's not perfect, butneither was the plane.
Captain Al Haynes, who passedaway in 2019 always insisted.
He and his crew were not heroes.
They were just doing their job.
(55:38):
But the 184 people who walked awayfrom that cornfield in Iowa, and the
thousands of aviation professionals whohave benefited from the lessons learned.
No.
Better.
They disagree.
Okay, Zach, that's our story for today.
It's a heck of a story.
Little sad, little happy, littledemanding on the other side of the table.
(56:01):
It's,
but I love a story of aguy that just feels it.
I know.
He's got the spirit.
That's what I like.
Oh, man.
Zach, where could people reach out to us?
Where can they find us?
We are on Facebook, Instagram.
You can reach us by email.
We are on Instagram atfinal boarding call pod.
We are on Facebook, a finalboarding call podcast.
(56:22):
We have a discussion groupand then we are on email.
We're on the emails.
We got them email things.
We got emails at final boardand call podcast@gmail.com
and you can reach us anyway that floats your goat.
And as always, if you enjoyed thisstory, please like rate, review, and
subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
(56:45):
And join us next time where we willbe discovering another air disaster.
Until then, remember,stow your tray tables.
Fasten your seat belts.
And prepare for the unexpected because notevery trip reaches its final destination.
(57:06):
Good.
Picture this, it's a beautiful summerafternoon in 1989 and you are cruising
at 37,000 feet over the American Midwest.
The flight has been smooth as silk.
Then without warning, theaircraft shutters violently and
begins banking to the right.
(00:22):
In the cockpit, the pilotsdiscover that all of their flight
controls have stopped working.
But among the 296 people on boardis a passenger who happens to
be one of the most experiencedDC 10 pilots in the world.
Together, the crew is about to attemptsomething that has never been done before.
(00:44):
Land a jumbo jet using only engine power.
So stow your tray tables, fastenyour seat belts, and prepare for
some extreme turbulence becausethis is final boarding call.
I will now take this duck off my head.
(01:07):
You looked great though.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to Final Boarding Call.
I am your disaster obsessed host Alice.
And I am Zach, the one who shows upevery time, whether I'm reluctant or not.
But today is a great daybecause I am not falling asleep.
While we record, we are recording midday.
(01:29):
This is crazy.
We have never beforerecorded during the day.
We always record this right beforewe're about to try and fall asleep.
And Zach is exhausted.
I'm exhausted.
And we're trying to makethe most of the situation.
So maybe you can.
Feel our enthusiasmacross the radio waves.
I have had a couple of moments that aresimilar to when we're in bed watching tv
(01:52):
and you like, roll over, are you sleeping?
And I like jolt awake andI'm like, absolutely not.
I'm fine.
You fall asleep on the podcast.
I wouldn't call it falling asleep.
And it was for one episode ever.
And I was just, I was exhausted and itwas when we were laying in bed too, so
I was like laying back kind of comfy.
(02:17):
Well, I love you.
Do you have any reminders forthe people before we dive in?
Please rate, review and subscribewherever you get your podcasts.
Boop.
Okay.
Sources.
So this episode is one of the craziestaviation incidents of all time.
I'm a big fan.
(02:37):
Not everybody makes it so I,maybe I shouldn't say that.
I'm a big fan.
The story, she's a huge fanof death and dismemberment.
No, it's horrible.
No.
But to me this is pilots beingultimate badass is kind of story.
So here are my sources.
Obviously, I got an airdisaster for this one.
We've got season 11, episode13 titled Impossible Landing.
(03:02):
I did do a little bit of researchinto the NTSB investigation reports.
And obviously Wikipedia came into playvery lightly on this episode, actually.
The air disaster did a wonderfuljob telling this story.
Okay, Zach, do you wanna know whyI was passionate about doing this
episode for this particular week?
(03:26):
Tell me why.
It's because the week that this isgoing to be released to the people
anniversary, we will be flying,oh, from Colorado to Chicago.
And this is the story of a flight.
From Colorado to Chicago.
(03:47):
You love to just put like a terrible dark.
I love it.
Thought in the world.
No, I love it.
I love it.
However, this flight's out of Denver.
We'll be flying out of ColoradoSprings, but it is fun to me that these
people were on a very similar flightthat we're gonna be doing and died.
Not all of them.
Okay, let's go.
July 19th, 1989.
(04:10):
It is a gorgeous summer dayin Denver, Colorado with clear
skies and perfect flying weather.
This, I actually forgot to mentionthis earlier, but this blew my
mind when I was researching this.
I actually thought that air disasters,the documentary series, got the
name of Denver's airport wrong.
(04:31):
I had to rewind three timesbecause they kept calling it
Stapleton International Airport.
And I was like, what is that?
Where is that?
That ain't Denver's airport.
Turns out it was.
So let me give you a little bit ofbackground here in the eighties,
stapleton International Airport, formerlyDenver Municipal Airport was Denver's
(04:56):
primary airport from 1929 to 1995.
It was subsequently replacedby what we all know.
Loathed has Denver International Airport.
I can't say love because Idon't know anybody who loves
DIA and all of its conspiracies.
I love it for those reasons.
(05:16):
The COSIes are cool, theconspiracies are cool.
But yes, DIA was opened in 1995.
And the airport property whereStapleton Airport used to live
is now a housing neighborhood.
Oh, that's called Stapleton Neighborhood.
Stapleton Housing District.
Stapleton Neighborhood.
(05:38):
Stapleton Housing District.
Okay, cool.
So anyway, that's important because I'mgonna reference Stapleton Airport, and
I just want people to know that I, Iknow the name of the airport in Denver.
I live here, so I just want peopleto know that but the eighties, yes.
It threw me off, so I'm sure itwould throw somebody else off.
Anyways, these people, 285 passengers,they are boarding United Airlines
(06:03):
Flight 2 32 Bound for Chicago.
Continuing service toPhilly, Philadelphia.
I picked up on that one, butmaybe somebody wouldn't know.
Look, we're not gonnajudge our listener base.
All right?
We love them all.
Five and a half of you, the aircraftis a McDonald, Douglas, DC 10 10.
(06:26):
Is that correct?
But let me make sure thatthe DC 10 10 is a thing.
Is a thing before I tell allthese people what this plane is.
Yeah.
Let's make sure that it is a plane.
It is.
It is DC 10 10.
The DC 10 10.
It's going 10 tens Weird.
At the time of this story, which is 1989,this plane had been flying for not this
(06:53):
particular, I don't know if it's thisparticular plane, but DC tens in general
had been flying for nearly two decades.
So that model had comeout two decades prior.
It had a hell of a reputation.
Please listen to our some of ourepisodes covering DC tens and
the issues that they have had.
But at this time it had reallyrepaired its reputation.
(07:18):
So the issues that it washaving in the seventies, it was
like, wipe that slate clean.
We're safe again.
Fly DC 10.
This particular aircraft that we aretalking about is 18 years old and it
has logged over 43,000 flight hours.
That's a lot.
It can vote.
It's a lot of flight hours.
(07:39):
It's still going.
Let me introduce you to the flight crew.
Captain Alfred, see Al Hayes.
Okay.
We're gonna call him Al orHaynes, but he's 57 years old.
He is a veteran United Airlines pilotwith nearly 30,000 hours of flight time.
(07:59):
That's a big bunch.
And he has over 7,000 hoursspecifically in the DC 10.
He is known for his calm demeanorand exceptional professionalism.
Ooh, exceptional professionalism.
I love that.
Let's talk about our first officer.
First.
Officer William R.
Bill Records 48 Bill records love that.
(08:24):
He has 20,000 hours of total flight time.
He previously has flown forNational Airlines and Pan Am
before joining United in 1985.
He has 665 hours as aDC ten first officer.
And we have a flight engineer becauseit's 1989, so we still need one of those.
(08:47):
Our flight engineer is Dudley j Dak.
That's pretty good.
We'll call him Flight Engineer Dudley.
He's 51 and he washired by United in 1986.
He has around 15,000 hours of totalflight time with most of his DC 10
experience coming from his 33 hours asa flight engineer on this aircraft type.
(09:12):
So yeah we've got a solid team.
Solid team.
Also aboard Flight 2 32 is somebodywho will become crucial to our
story, though nobody knows it yetwhen they're all just boarding.
Dennis e, also known as Denny Fitch,who is 46 and he is deadheading.
(09:35):
And we use this term for the first timein our episode about the FedEx hijacking
and deadheading is when somebody travelsas a passenger while they are off duty.
So it's somebody who works in theairline industry, they're not working.
They are deadheading.
Fitch is not just any passenger, though.
He's a United Airlines DC 10 trainingcheck pilot, meaning he is one of the
(10:00):
most experienced DC 10 pilots in theworld, not just the city, the world.
Craig,
get yourself a sticker.
Let me know who said it.
He is responsible for trainingand evaluating other pilots
on this aircraft type.
Okay?
It is worth noting that today nottoday, that you're listening to
(10:21):
this today, as in July 19th, 1989.
Is Children's Day at UnitedAirlines, which is a special,
which is a special promotion wherechildren's tickets cost one penny.
God, I wish what I would do, it would bean ideal situation for Children's Day.
(10:43):
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
As a result this is a corporateAmerica flying nightmare.
There are 52 children, ugh, on this point.
So for somebody like me who travelsconstantly for work I love when
there is a handful a scatteringof kids amongst the aircraft.
(11:06):
52 children.
Oh my God.
Including four lap children,which are infants that are too
young to require their own seats.
All of our parents will know that.
But if you're cool, hip, don't havekids you don't have to pay for a ticket
if your kiddo is under the age of twobecause they can just sit on your lap and
(11:29):
you will lose all feeling in your legs.
Among the adult passengers is JerryChael, who is a basketball executive
heading to Chicago for a college draftat 2:09 PM Central Daylight time.
Flight 2 32, pushes back from the gateand takes off into the clear Colorado sky.
(11:49):
The flight plan calls for a cruisingaltitude of 37,000 feet, and the journey
to Chicago should take about two hours.
The takeoff and initialclimb are completely normal.
The aircraft performs flawlessly as itclimbs through the thin mountain air
and levels off at cruising altitude.
Lunch is served because this is backwhen you got food on an airplane,
(12:15):
how gangster passengers settle infor the flight and everything seems
perfect for what would be a routinejourney across America's heartland.
Captain Haynes would later describethe flight as absolutely normal in
all respects, which sounds accuratefor a guy who's professional.
He's just a professional guy.
(12:36):
Yeah, he is a, yeah, very professional.
The airplane was trimmed properly,the crew was enjoying coffee,
and the weather was beautiful.
There was no reason to expectanything other than a perfectly
routine flight, but I.
We wouldn't be talking about this onour podcast if this plane just took
(12:56):
off and landed normally in Chicago.
Fact Fact, at 3:16 PM exactly onehour and seven minutes after takeoff,
everything changes in an instant.
Flight 2 32 is cruisingpeacefully at 37,000 feet.
When there is a tremendousexplosion from the rear of the
(13:18):
aircraft, the sound is deafening.
Jerry, who is the basketball executivelater recalls that it was like being
thrown into a great big tornado.
One moment, everything was smooth,and the next, it was pure chaos.
The explosion comes from theDC tens tail mounted engine.
(13:39):
Which is the number two engine.
That's the tail mounted one.
Okay.
I don't know why that seemslike such a fun fact for you.
Because in a previous episodewe talked about a, an engine
on the DC 10 that fell off.
Yeah.
The number one engine.
The number one engine, whichwas the engine on the left.
(13:59):
Left, yeah.
Yeah.
I'm giving you this facebecause we're learning.
Zach, this is a partiallyeducational podcast.
I say educational very loosely.
You're just that mom that wants herkid to be learning something, so
it doesn't matter what they watchas long as there is a factoid.
Yeah, this is, okay.
(14:22):
The number two engine is thetail mounted engine, and this
is the one that has exploded.
Okay.
Inside that engine, a massivefan disc weighing nearly 400
pounds and measuring 32 inches indiameter has just disintegrated.
It's like turbine wheels on a turbo.
(14:43):
Correct.
Except again, this is aplane and it's 400 pounds.
Yeah.
So a bigger scale, same thing.
Yes.
The exact same thing.
To understand what happened, I need toexplain how Jet engines work briefly.
The fan disc is one of the mostcritical components of a Turbo fan jet.
(15:06):
It is a massive titanium disc that spinsat thousands of revolutions per minute.
People that drive manual cars, ormaybe not, man, I don't know if
people that drive automatics arereally super familiar with their RPM
concept, but, rPM is a term that ithas to do with rotations per minute.
(15:27):
This spins in the thousands, asdoes technically a car engine as
well with dozens of fan bladesattached around its circumference.
So that's cool.
We're gonna show pictures of this justso that people get an idea, 'cause it's
hard for me to describe what it is.
These blades pull enormousamounts of air into the engine,
(15:52):
zach, how does an engine work?
Why don't you just briefly explainthe three key components that you
need to make an engine function?
You need air, fuel, andfire, air, fuel and fire.
I think I just stuttered when I said that.
Air fire.
(16:13):
Yes.
That is critical.
And the blades are pullingin air, which is obviously a
critical part of this equation.
It's what provides the most thrustthat pushes the aircraft forward.
When the fan disc breaks apartwhat engineers call an uncontained
(16:35):
failure, it releases energyequivalent to a bomb explosion.
Chunks of titanium alloy.
Each weighing dozens of pounds arehurled outward at tremendous speeds.
Acting like high velocity shrapnel.
In the cockpit first, officer Billrecords immediately takes manual
(16:55):
control as the autopilot disconnects.
It was like, audio Scho, I'm out.
You later.
Captain Haynes focuses onthe failed engine trying to
understand what is happening.
The engine instruments show itsmalfunctioning and flight engineer
A Dudley shuts off the fuelsupply to prevent further damage.
(17:18):
Smart think and dly.
But they quickly realize that thisisn't just an engine failure Records
discovers that the aircraft isn'tresponding to his control inputs.
Even with the control column, turnedall the way to the left and pulled all
the way back inputs that would neverbe used together in normal flight,
(17:40):
the aircraft continues banking tothe right with the nose dropping.
That's not good.
Captain Haynes tries to help levelthe aircraft with his own control
column, and both pilots worktogether, but nothing happens.
The aircraft seems to havea mind of its own banking.
Further and further to the right,then flight engineer Dudley delivers
(18:04):
the news that changes everything.
We have no hydraulic fluid left.
All systems are down to zero, all three.
What is it with them in theirhydraulics, in the engines where
they're just like, oh, let's puteverything here with no fail.
Save.
Oh man, DC 10.
Okay.
This announcement is met with disbelief.
(18:28):
That's impossible.
Someone responds, and from an engineeringstandpoint, it should be impossible.
The DC 10 has three completelyindependent hydraulic systems.
Each one is powered by one ofthe aircraft's three engines.
These systems are designed withwhat engineers call redundancy.
(18:51):
Also keyword in the day center industry.
If one fails, the other two canhandle all flight control functions.
If two fails, the remaining systemcan still control the aircraft
though with reduced capabilities.
But all three systems failingsimultaneously was considered so remote
(19:13):
with odds calculated to a billion to one.
They won the lottery.
Oh no, this is not the lottery one win.
No emergency procedures had everbeen written for such an event.
Was that Benji?
Yep.
Our grumbly old boy.
(19:34):
Grumbly old dog.
It was literally considered impossible.
Here's why.
Hydraulic failure is socatastrophic on a large aircraft.
Unlike small planes where the pilots canphysically move control surfaces through
cables and pulleys, jets like the DC10 rely entirely on hydraulic power to
(19:56):
move their massive control surfaces.
For our non-technical folks outthere, think of hydraulics like
the muscle of the aircraft.
Pressurized fluid flows through linesthroughout the plane, powering actuators
that move the elevators, ailerons,rudders, and other control surfaces.
(20:17):
When pilots move their controls,they are not directly moving these
surfaces, so they're not like pullingstrings and something happens.
They are sending signals tohydraulic actuators that do the
heavy lifting against reallytremendous aerodynamic forces.
The moral of this story, folks,is that with no hydraulics,
(20:39):
you're gonna have a bad time.
The flight controls becomecompletely useless, completely.
The control yolk, rudderpedals, trim wheels.
Are essentially disconnectedfrom the aircraft.
The pilots might as wellthrow them out the window.
But Captain Haynes and his crewaren't ready to give up because that
(21:02):
would mean that they would all die.
So this is good.
In a moment of inspiration, theydecide to try something that
has never been attempted before.
On a commercial airliner, they'reflying using only engine power.
They're about to throttle this thing.
Give her a go.
Give her a go.
We're gonna see how it goes.
(21:23):
They're going to steer usingthrottle that you're going to
change elevation using only throttlewith no flight controls available.
The crew of Flight 2 32 facesa situation that no commercial
pilot has ever encountered.
They have two wing mounted enginesthat are still running normally,
and they decide to use these enginesas their only means of control.
(21:47):
It really is like driving Subaru.
You can't turn it, it just screams at you.
The physics are simple in theory,but incredibly difficult in practice.
I.
By adding power to both engines, theycan create more lift and raise the nose.
By reducing power, the nosewill drop to turn right.
(22:08):
They can add power to the left enginewhile reducing power to the right
engine, creating asymmetric thrustthat should push the aircraft around.
But the margins for error are microscopic.
Too much power in the aircraft climbstoo steeply threatening a stall.
We know this folks.
(22:28):
Planes do not like climbing at acrazy, steep angle, too little power,
and it dives towards the ground.
Every single throttle movement mustbe precise and coordinated initially.
These efforts seem to work.
By carefully adjusting engine power.
They manage to level the aircraft andstop its dangerous right bank, but
(22:53):
they quickly discover another problem.
The aircraft wants to oscillate up anddown in what is called a fu go cycle.
Foid, I'm not sure who cameup with that, but yeah,
think of a fugo cycle as a little bitof a rollercoaster ride when it's drawn,
(23:18):
like the flight path is actually drawnon a map, and you can visually see it.
It literally looks like it, likeclimb, climbs, goes down, climbs climb,
climbs, goes down over and over again.
Woo.
People with motion sickness, rough buckleup, like that's without the stabilizing
influence of working flight controls.
(23:38):
The DC 10 begins a reallyterrifying pattern.
It climbs until it losesspeed and begins to stall.
Then the nose drops and it dives untilit gains speed and begins to climb again.
Each cycle costs them about1500 feet of altitude.
The crew contacts our traffic controland declares an emergency requesting
(24:03):
vectors to the nearest airport,which just happens to be Sioux
Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa.
55 miles away, they're gonnahave to limp This puppy 55 miles
for a plane is real fast though.
That's just descent time.
Yeah.
There is not really dissentor gain in this situation.
(24:23):
There is just like buckle up and holdon and do your best, turn your car off.
Hope it starts again.
Oh God.
During this critical phase, theyrealize that they need help.
Flight attendant, Jan Brown lore,relays a message from the cabin.
There's a DC 10 training checkpilot among the passengers
who's volunteered to assist.
(24:45):
So he is just sitting in there,sitting in that cabin, waiting
for his moment to say, chillax in.
And she goes back there and she's hi,we are having a DC 10 crisis help.
And he is like, Hey, I got you.
I'm Denny Fitch, baby.
It's me, ya boy.
(25:05):
His presence on this flight isabout to become crucial to the
survival of everyone on board.
I don't know if anybody ever playedthe um, there was a Shrek video game.
I think it was on the original.
We and it was, they did this thing.
They were like, hero time.
(25:26):
Oh my.
And that's what this reminds me of.
This is I have hero time.
I hope he was really dramatic about it.
They come back like, we need you to saveeverybody here, and he's fine Again.
Okay.
Fitch makes his way to the cockpitwhere he is shocked by what he sees.
Both Captain Haynes and FirstOfficer records are gripping their
(25:48):
control columns with white knuckles.
Their forearms are tents tryingdesperately to fly an aircraft
that won't respond to their inputs.
When Dennis Fitch takes in the situation,all three hydraulic systems failed.
No flight controls flyingby engine power alone.
His immediate thought is stark and simple.
(26:09):
Denny, today is the day you're gonna die.
Damn it.
Oh, but Dennis doesn't panic.
That's an insight thought.
Instead, he positions himself betweenthe two pilots and takes control of the
throttles with one throttle in each hand.
He begins to learn how toquote unquote, fly the DC 10
using nothing but engine power.
(26:32):
What follows is an extraordinarydisplay of teamwork and skill.
Captain Haynes continues working hisuseless control column, hoping against
hope that there is some sort of hydraulicpressure that might return first.
Officer records, monitors instruments andcommunicates with air traffic control.
Flight engineer Dudley managesthe aircraft's systems.
(26:56):
And Denny Fitch, the passenger turnedcrew member, essentially becomes the
person actually flying the aircraftthrough throttle manipulation.
So Denny Fitch quicklydevelops an intuitive feel
for the aircraft's behavior.
He learns to sense when theplane is about to climb or dive
(27:17):
and adjust power accordingly.
Zach, what would you sayhe is doing right now?
He's feeling it.
He's feeling it.
He's a drifter at heart.
He's a drifter.
He so is.
That is the first timeI ever tried drifting.
I begged Zach for like concretedirections on what to do and verbatim.
He told me to feel it.
(27:40):
You and Denny Cher.
Once you feel it, BF,you gotta figure it out.
Ugh, God.
He learns to sense when theplane is about to climb, dive
and he adjust power accordingly.
He discovers that the damaged aircrafthas a strong tendency to turn right,
making left turns difficult and dangerous.
(28:01):
As they approach Sioux City, they realizethey'll have to execute a series of right
hand turns to line up with the airport.
Which is good because turningleft is don't work so good.
Yeah, it doesn't work really good,but I guess if you turn right
enough times, three rights, make aleft, you'll eventually turn left.
Each turn is a delicate balanceof power adjustments and each one
(28:25):
brings them closer to the groundwith no guarantee that they will
be able to complete a safe landing.
The crew faces another critical decisionshould they deploy the landing gear.
Normally, this would be an easy choice.
Yes, you want landing gearwhen you're landing a plane.
(28:46):
But with that extra drag, whenyou have no control lease yeah.
It turns out that without hydraulics,they'll have to use gravity to drop the
gear and hope that it locks in place.
The added drag might help slowthe aircraft, but it also would
make controlling the aircraft,it would dip the nose further.
(29:07):
Yeah.
It, we don't, yeah, actually, Ibet that's exactly what I would do.
I bet it would dip the nose.
That's a scientific thought.
That wasn't just me talking shit.
God, you're so smart,
brilliant, brilliant.
They decide to lower the gearand fortunately all three sets
lock into position properly.
The added drag helps stabilize theirflight path somewhat, but they are
(29:29):
still approaching much faster thannormal, over 200 knots instead of
the usual 140 knots for landing
As they line up for their final approachto Sioux City, everybody aboard.
Flight 2 32 knows that they'reabout to attempt something that
has never been done before.
Land a commercial airlinerwith no flight controls using
(29:52):
only engine power for control.
And I say that everybody,meaning the flight crew.
Everybody on that flight knew thatshit's going down for real, and
that day they ran outta rental cars.
Yeah.
I don't think these swivel aregetting back on a plane today.
Maybe.
Would you get back on a plane?
Yeah, probably.
What are the odds of you havingtwo bad things in a moment?
(30:12):
That's what I'm saying.
I honestly would be like, this is probablythe safest time for me to fly in my life.
Yeah.
Right now it can't happen twice.
Oh, we have so manybirds outside right now.
They're actually burbsand they're not real.
Okay.
As flight 2 32 approaches SueGateway Airport, the reality of
their situation becomes crystal clearbecause now you can see the runway
(30:38):
and you can see what you gotta do.
And it's not doing it.
It's.
I think really setting in that holyshit, this is gonna be really bad.
They are attempting something thataviation experts consider impossible.
Landing a DC 10 with no flight controlsat nearly twice the normal landing speed,
(30:59):
captain Haines makes a decision thatexemplifies the leadership and honesty
that will make this crew legendary.
Instead of offering falsereassurance, he tells the passengers
exactly what they're facing.
It's a bold strategy.
It's creating panic is scary,but people tend to just feel like
it's outta my hands in a plane.
(31:19):
So, so true.
But like we just talked about before,this moment, these people know that
something really bad is happeningon the aircraft, but they don't
know the extent of what's happening.
So he gets on the intercom, ladies andgentlemen, guess is Croton speaking.
We are attempting an emergencylanding in Sioux City.
(31:41):
This is going to be a crash landing.
Please review your emergency procedures.
This is going to be worse thananything you've ever been through
before and you need to be ready.
Is that what he actually said?
That is literally what he said, folks.
All right.
He literally said, this isgoing to be a crash landing.
Please review your emergency procedures.
(32:01):
This is going to be worse thananything you've ever been through
before and you need to be ready.
Ran Allen.
I love that.
Captain Haynes does not fuckaround because he is professional.
Professional.
Okay.
Jerry?
Jerry, the basketball executive.
(32:22):
Poor Jerry.
He later recalled being convincedthat he was not going to make it.
But Captain Haynes's honestyactually helped passengers prepare
mentally for what was coming.
Some wrote farewell lettersto their loved ones.
Others made peace with their situationand focused on helping fellow passengers.
Zach, what would you do?
(32:43):
I've got nothing to make peace with.
Are you there with me on this planeor is, have you ever flown without me?
Yes, once before we met.
Yeah.
If you weren't there, like I'm cool.
I'll just help some other people.
If you're there, I'm not sure you wouldlet me get up and do help anybody.
It would just be you and I together.
(33:05):
Are you trying to write mea note or send me a text or
you're right there next to me.
Why do I need to do that?
That's why we just asked, are you with me?
And you said, oh yeah, I'm yousaid that if you're, if I'm not
there, you're doing your own thing.
No.
Do you want me to send you a text?
No.
Forget it.
Last little bit.
I don't want it anymore.
Okay.
I think we're fighting in,
(33:26):
in the cockpit.
The crew continues.
They're desperate battleto control the aircraft.
They're descending it over1600 feet per minute faster
than the space shuttle lands.
Oh.
And they're approaching at about 220knots instead of the normal 140 knots.
(33:47):
Denny Fitch still controlling thethrottles, finds himself in an almost
mystical connection with the aircraft.
He is such a drifter.
He later described feeling like theairplane was becoming one with him,
sending him signals about what itwas going to do before it did it.
(34:08):
The approach requiresextraordinary precision.
Zach, as you probably can imagine.
Too much power and they will climb awayfrom the runway too little power, and
they will crash short of the runway.
Fitch must maintain just enough thrustto keep them on a descent path while
preventing the aircraft from stalling.
(34:29):
As they get closer to the runway,they encounter another problem.
How many problems could you have?
Nine to nine problems.
And they all bitches.
Yeah.
These are all, yeah.
This is rough.
They are not lined up perfectlywith the active runway.
How could you be?
They can't steer really.
(34:50):
Instead they're aligned witha shorter closed runway.
But they have no ability tomake fine course corrections.
They're gonna have to take whateverrunway they got, get her down.
Air traffic control recognizes thedesperateness of the situation and clears
them to land on any runway they need.
Find the ground.
(35:10):
Yeah.
Slowly.
When the controller adds, you want to beparticular and make it to a runway, huh?
Captain Hanes responds with nervouslaughter, a moment of dark humor in
the face of almost certain death.
In the final moments beforetouchdown, the aircraft begins
to behave erratically again.
The nose drops increasingtheir already dangerous speed.
(35:33):
The right wing starts to dip,threatening to cartwheel the aircraft.
Fitz realizes that he needs to addpower to prevent a catastrophic impact.
But first, officer records initiallycalls for him to reduce power.
The confusion lasts only seconds,but in those seconds, the fate of
296 people hangs in the balance.
(35:54):
Captain Haynes takes command.
Left throttle.
Left left.
He shouts trying to prevent theaircraft from rolling over the ground.
Proximity Warning systems begin blaring.
Whoop.
Pull up.
Whoop.
Pull up.
Okay, darling,
but there's nowhere to pull up.
Okay.
They're committed to this landingand in seconds they will know whether
(36:18):
they've achieved the impossible orwhether their heroic efforts will end
in tragedy at 4:00 PM central time.
Exactly.
44 minutes after the engineexplosion, United Airlines
Flight 2 32 approaches the runway
at Sioux Gateway Airport, the aircraftis descending at 1600 feet per minute and
(36:39):
traveling at 220 knots nearly twice thenormal landing speed in the final seconds.
Everything goes wrong at once.
The right wing drops dangerously lowthreatening to cartwheel the aircraft.
Denny Fitch pushes both throttles to fullpower in a desperate last ditch attempt
to level out the plane, but it's too late.
(37:01):
The right wing tips strikes the runwayfirst, and the impact is catastrophic.
The wing is torn off immediately spillingfuel that ignites into a massive fireball.
The aircraft bounces severaltimes, shedding landing gear
and engines with each impact.
(37:21):
What happens next?
Really defies description.
The main fuselage breaksinto several pieces.
The tail section separates completelyand the aircraft cartwheels end
over end before finally sliding toa stop upside down in a cornfield
(37:41):
beside the runway from the outside.
It appears that no one could havesurvived such a violent crash.
Emergency responders rushing to thescene expected to find no survivors,
but incredibly and impossibly peoplebegin emerging from the wreckage.
(38:04):
Jerry finds himself hangingupside down in his seat, initially
unsure if he's alive or dead.
When he realizes that hesurvived, he hears a baby crying
somewhere in the wreckage.
And without thinking aboutthe danger, he goes back into
the burning aircraft to help.
Throughout the wreckage,survivors are helping each other.
(38:24):
Flight attendants who survived theimpact work to evacuate passengers from
the burning sections of the aircraft.
Passengers help carry injuredfellow travelers to safety.
But the cockpit is nowhere to beseen for 35 agonizing minutes.
Rescuers search for any sign ofthe four man crew who fought so
(38:45):
hard to save everyone on board.
Then in a piece of wreckage, 180meters from the main crash site,
they find the cockpit completelyseparated from the rest of the
aircraft, but relatively intact inside.
All four crew members are alive.
(39:07):
It's incredible that allof these people are alive.
I wanna know what happened was the tailpeople, the first ones that were safe.
'cause I picture being separatedfrom the plane first is
probably the safest place to be.
Ooh, good predictions, Zach.
Okay, here we go.
Let's dive into that exact philosopher.
Captain Haynes is unconscious,but he is breathing First.
(39:29):
Officer records is pinned in the wreckage,but alert flight engineer dudley has
suffered serious injuries, but he is aliveand Denny Fitch, the passenger who became
a crew member and saved so many lives isseriously injured, but also conscious.
The final death toll is bothheartbreaking and miraculous.
(39:52):
Of the 296 people on board 112 died inthe crash, including 11 children is a
much higher number than I had in my head.
But I think in order to catch any kindof grasp of how violent that crash was,
you would have to see it in a video.
You can't just describe it and peopleunderstand unless they're pilots.
(40:13):
I have a video.
184 people survived one of the mostviolent aircraft accidents in history.
Most of the survivors were seated in themiddle and rear sections of the aircraft
behind first class and ahead of the wings.
The front section where firstclass passengers were seated
(40:35):
experienced deceleration forcesof over 100 times the force of
gravity, which is instantly fatal.
Tragically, 35 people died notfrom the impact, but from smoke
inhalation and in the post crash fire.
These deaths highlight the importance ofrapid evacuation from burning aircraft,
(40:55):
but they don't diminish the extraordinaryachievement of the crew because they were
alive upon touchdown of the airplane.
Just couldn't get resty there fast enough.
Correct.
And when you're in a fire, it doesn'ttake long for that fire to destroy you.
Especially when that much fuelis just fire balling, aviation
experts would later attempt toreproduce the crew's performance.
(41:19):
In flight simulators.
Not a single crew was able toachieve a survivable landing.
Most couldn't even getclose to an airport.
Hmm.
That's wild.
Yeah, that's insane.
I know that they always try to mimicand see if things could have gone
better for training purposes and forlegal purposes, but that's that would
(41:42):
be the first time that I ever heardthat people could not even do as well
as they did in the live scenario.
That's incredible.
The NTSB concluded that under thecircumstances, the crew performance
was highly commendable and greatlyexceeded reasonable expectations.
what the crew of Flight 2 32 accomplishedwas quite literally impossible, according
(42:03):
to the best aviation experts in the world.
So Zach, this has a happy ishending with many people surviving.
Obviously the deaths are tragic, butwe're still left with a puzzling question.
How could a single engine failure causeso much damage to an aircraft that was
(42:25):
designed with multiple backup systems?
The shrapnel exploded so viciously that itactually hit both other engines as well.
The engine was still running,but it lost its hydraulics.
Oh, let's see if you're right.
The key to solving this mystery is.
Finding the missing fan discfrom the number two engine.
(42:47):
The huge piece of titanium, whichwe already stated, weighs nearly
400 pounds had disappeared.
Where was it?
It was somewhere in the IowaCountryside General Electric.
The engine manufacturer offered a$50,000 reward for the disc and a
thousand dollars for each fan blade.
(43:09):
Three.
I know.
Three months after the crash, a farmernamed Janice Sorenson discovered the
crucial evidence and her cornfield abouta hundred kilometers from the airport.
When investigators examined therecovered fan desk, they found
that it had broken into two largepieces and almost unimaginable
(43:30):
failure for such a strong component.
The fracture showed clearevidence of fatigue cracking.
Mm Meaning the disc had been graduallyweakened over a long period of time.
Tracing the crack back to its origin.
Investigators found microscopicimpurities in the titanium alloy.
(43:51):
Specifically nitrogen and oxygencontamination that had made
the metal brittle in that area.
Garbage manufacturing, that's crazy.
The contamination occurred during themanufacturing process 18 years earlier.
Folks, when titanium is melted, itreacts with air creating impurities
(44:11):
that can initiate fatigue cracks.
To prevent this, the disc wasmanufactured using a double vacuum
process where the metal was melted twicein a vacuum to remove contaminants.
It's a cool process that it is.
However, some contamination remained.
(44:32):
Creating what?
Metall Large ma metallurgist ma metal.
It would be ma it would bea ma metallurgist, right?
Like a, an urges probably for metal.
Yeah.
Metallurgist.
(44:52):
I'll go with it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Woo.
That's a rough one.
They call that a hard alpha inclusion,a spot where the metal becomes
brittle and prone to cracking for18 years and over 15,000 flight
cycles, this microscopic crack.
Grew slowly with each enginestart and shut down the
(45:15):
repeated heating and cooling.
The stress of high speed rotationand the enormous forces involved in
flight gradually extended the crackuntil it reached a critical size.
And on July 19th, 1989, the crack finallygrew large enough to cause a failure.
The disc disintegrated, explosively,hurling chunks of titanium in all
(45:40):
directions, but that still didn'texplain how one engine failure could
disable all three hydraulic systems.
The answer lay in the DC tens designanother one so they weren't actually
redundant and separate systems.
Let's talk about it.
All three hydraulic systems convergedin the tail section of the aircraft.
(46:04):
Near the horizontal stabilizer.
The exploding fan disc sent shrapneldirectly into this area, severing all
three hydraulic lines simultaneously.
It was a design vulnerability that noone had anticipated, so the systems
were separate, but with this issue,it was essentially just like a knife.
(46:27):
Just cut all three of 'em.
Yeah, but it's not really alike safe redundancy system.
If all three lines stillgo to the same spot.
That's fair.
They need to be in completeseparate parts of the plane.
You should be designing airplanes,fucking a, I should be designing
(46:47):
a lot of things, but here youare on a podcast with me instead.
Fuck laughs a bitch, and then you die.
Eventually the investigation.
Also revealed a troublingmaintenance issue.
The crack should have been detectedduring routine inspections using
fluorescent dye penetrant testing.
(47:10):
Okay, that's fancy fluorescent dyepenetrant testing evidence showed that
the crack had been present and shouldhave been visible during a previous
inspection, but it was missed due toinadequate attention to human factors in
United Airlines Maintenance procedures.
The NTSB concluded that the probablecause was inadequate consideration
(47:33):
given to human factors, limitationsin the inspection, and quality
control procedures used by UnitedAirlines engine overhaul facility.
That makes sense.
The finding led to significantimprovements in both manufacturing
and maintenance procedures.
Titanium processing was changedto use a triple vacuum system.
(47:57):
If it doesn't work the firsttwo times, try it again.
Did that, Bobby, do it one more time.
If you do it one more time,it's guaranteed to work, it
won't be, that's gonna be pure.
Why don't they just have a service life,like on a timing belt where it's oh,
every fucking, 600 hours replace them.
Brilliant.
I know.
(48:18):
I know.
So they implemented the U triplevacuum process to eliminate
impurities more effectively.
Why not a four vacuum fucking aquadruple vacuum, give it to 'em.
Inspection procedures were enhancedwith better training and more , rigorous
quality control measures as well.
All right.
(48:38):
Okay.
The crash of Flight 2 32 became awatershed moment in aviation safety,
not just because of the lives lost, butbecause of the lesson lessons learned
from the crew's extraordinary performance.
The most significant legacy is in thearea of crew resource management or CRM.
This is the training philosophythat emphasizes teamwork along with
(49:02):
communication and using all availableresources in emergency situations.
Before the 1980s, airline cockpits,operated under a strict hierarchy,
which we have talked about before.
In tenor reef, captainis in charge of Alling.
Yes.
You don't question them.
That's exactly it, Zach.
It's like, I don't knowwho's running the ship?
(49:22):
People were scared to speak up.
And basically the moral of the storyis that crew members were expected
to follow orders without question 10.
Arif.
This led to several accidentswhere Copilots failed to speak
up about problems they observed.
10 Arif.
Thank you.
Captain Haynes.
Decision to accept help from passengerDenny Fitch exemplified the new CRM
(49:48):
philosophy Rather than insisting hecould handle the emergency alone,
Haynes recognized that Fitch's expertisecould absolutely help save lives.
And immediately he was like, that guy.
Need him.
Go get him please.
Fitch is on the case.
As Captain Haynes later explained,we had 103 years of flying
(50:09):
experience in that cockpit tryingto get that airplane on the ground.
Not one minute of whichwe had actually practiced.
So why would I know more about gettingthat airplane on the ground under
those conditions than the other three?
If I hadn't used CRM, if we had notlet everybody put their input in, it's
a cinch that we wouldn't have made it.
(50:30):
It's valid.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
The FAA made CRM training mandatory forall airline crews after flight 2 32.
And it's now considered one of the mostimportant developments in aviation safety.
This incident also led tosome aircraft design changes.
The poor McDonald DC 10.
(50:51):
We are, it's unfortunate that therehave been so many cases, like back
to back that are all about the DC 10.
It's really putting it ina not flattering light.
You gotta think these incidentsare all taking place over.
30 plus years and we'll have plenty oftime to make fun of the 7 37 and 7 47.
Amen.
Because they have plentyof issues going on too.
(51:11):
Oh God.
Boeing's like, hold my beer.
Yes.
The, so the McDonald Douglas MD 11, whichis the successor to the DC 10 incorporated
hydraulic fuses that could isolate damagedsections and prevent total fluid loss.
Similar modifications wereactually retrofitted into
(51:32):
existing DC tens as they should.
I can't hear you.
Just raise that up.
You raise me up as they should.
Perfect.
Modern aircraft now have backupflight control systems that can assist
pilots who lose hydraulic power.
Some advanced aircraft can evenbe controlled using engine thrust
alone with computer assistance.
(51:54):
If a car can do it, why can't a plane?
And this was designed as a directresult of the lessons learned from
Flight 2 32, which I think is so cool.
The manufacturing of titanium componentswas also revolutionized in air quotes.
The triple vacuum melting processvirtually eliminated the type
of contamination that causedthe fan disc failure virtually.
(52:19):
Mostly kind of, sort of mostlyeliminated, but also so did the
single vacuum and the double vacuum.
It's just, and now the triple babyvacuum more vacuum, more cowbell.
Enhanced inspection techniques are andbetter human factors training for that.
(52:41):
I wrote a sentence andit does not make sense.
Basically, they improved inspectiontechniques as well because that really
could have prevented this issue.
It was there, it just wasn't seen
all four crew members returned to flying
burb.
(53:01):
You see a bird standing on the ground.
Oh, hot bird.
Captain Haynes and first Officer recordswere back in the cockpit within a year.
Nice flight engineer.
Dudley recovered from his injuries andcontinued his career and Denny Fitch,
despite doctor's predictions that he wouldnever flight again due to his injuries.
(53:23):
Returned to Captain Status.
Only 18 months later.
Denny.
The crew received numerous awards,including the Polaris Award, which is the
highest civilian aviation decoration forexceptional airmanship and heroic actions.
Perhaps the most important recognitioncame from the aviation community itself.
(53:46):
Flight 2 32 is studied inaviation schools worldwide.
As an example of how proper crewresource management, quick thinking
and refusing to give up, canovercome seemingly impossible lots.
The crash also led to improvementswith emergency response.
So like we talked about, there were peoplewho were alive when this plane touched
(54:09):
down and they died as part of the fire.
They couldn't evacuate quick enough, thetiming of the accident during a shift
change of regional medical facilitiesand when the Iowa Air National Guard
was on duty at the airport contributedto the high survival rate, emergency
(54:29):
responders now train specificallyfor mass casualty aviation accidents.
Jerry, the passenger, who survivedand helped rescue others, went on
to become a radio broadcaster andwrote a book about his experience.
Many other survivors have sharedtheir stories contributing to our
understanding of both the physicaland the psychological aspects of
(54:50):
surviving a disaster of this scale.
There is a memorial to flight 2 32 thatstands along the Missouri River in Sioux
City, featuring a statue of Iowa NationalGuard, Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Nielsen,
carrying a three-year-old child to safety.
An image that captured the heroic responseof the local community, sick, all right,
(55:15):
so against all odds, they managed.
They managed.
It's not perfect, butneither was the plane.
Captain Al Haynes, who passedaway in 2019 always insisted.
He and his crew were not heroes.
They were just doing their job.
(55:38):
But the 184 people who walked awayfrom that cornfield in Iowa, and the
thousands of aviation professionals whohave benefited from the lessons learned.
No.
Better.
They disagree.
Okay, Zach, that's our story for today.
It's a heck of a story.
Little sad, little happy, littledemanding on the other side of the table.
(56:01):
It's,
but I love a story of aguy that just feels it.
I know.
He's got the spirit.
That's what I like.
Oh, man.
Zach, where could people reach out to us?
Where can they find us?
We are on Facebook, Instagram.
You can reach us by email.
We are on Instagram atfinal boarding call pod.
We are on Facebook, a finalboarding call podcast.
(56:22):
We have a discussion groupand then we are on email.
We're on the emails.
We got them email things.
We got emails at final boardand call podcast@gmail.com
and you can reach us anyway that floats your goat.
And as always, if you enjoyed thisstory, please like rate, review, and
subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
(56:45):
And join us next time where we willbe discovering another air disaster.
Until then, remember,stow your tray tables.
Fasten your seat belts.
And prepare for the unexpected because notevery trip reaches its final destination.
(57:06):
Good.
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