DC10 plane crashes (original) (raw)

The following are significant events involving the aircraft model. The numbered events are those involving at least one passenger death where the aircraft flight had a direct or indirect role, and where at least one of the dead passengers was not a stowaway, hijacker, or saboteur.

**3 November 1973; National Airlines DC10; over New Mexico, USA:**The aircraft had an uncontained failure of one of the wing mounted engines. A piece of the engine struck the fuselage and broke a passenger window. One of the 116 passengers was sucked out of the aircraft during a rapid decompression. The remains of the passenger were not found.
**17 December 1973; EC-CBN; flight IB933; Iberia DC10-30; Boston, MA:**The aircraft was on a scheduled international flight from Madrid, Spain to Boston, MA. The aircraft encountered a wind shear condition during approach, and struck approach lights about 500 feet short of the threshold and also collided with a dike, shearing off the right main landing gear. The aircraft came to a stop about 3,000 feet down the runway. None of the 14 crew members or 154 passeners were killed.
3 March 1974; THY Turkish Airlines DC10; Flight 981; near Paris, France: The aircraft was a scheduled international flight from Paris to London. During climb, a rear cargo door which was improperly closed blew out. The resulting cabin decompression caused damage to the main cabin floor and to some control cables in the area. The crew was unable to control the aircraft and the plane crashed. All 333 passengers and 12 crew were killed.
More about this event
1 March 1978; Continental Airlines DC10-10; Flight 603; Los Angeles, CA: The aircraft was on a scheduled domestic flight from Los Angeles, CA to Honolulu, HI. The crew aborted the takeoff due to ruptured tires and were unable to keep the aircraft from running off the runway. The aircraft caught fire after coming to a stop, and the passengers and crew evacuated. All 14 crew members survived, but two of the 186 passengers were killed.
Fatal DC10 Events
**25 May 1979; American Airlines DC10-10; N110AA; flight 191; Chicago, USA:**The aircraft was on a scheduled domestic flight from Chicago, IL to Los Angeles, CA. During the takeoff roll, the left engine and pylon separated from the wing, damaging several hydraulic lines at the same time. The crew continued the takeoff, but the damage caused by the engine separation led to the uncommanded retraction of some flight control surfaces on the left wing as well as the loss of warning systems associated with those control surfaces. The aircraft rolled to the left, lost altitude, and crashed shortly after takeoff. All 258 passengers and 13 crew members were killed. Two people on the ground were also killed.
More about this event
American Airlines Events
**31 October 1979; Western Airlines DC10-10; Mexico City, Mexico:**The crew inadvertently landed on a closed runway parallel to the active runway. The aircraft struck a large vehicle and crashed. Nine of the 11 crew members and 63 of the 77 passengers were killed.
**28 November 1979; Air New Zealand DC10-30; near Mt. Erebus, Antarctica:**The aircraft was on a sightseeing flight from New Zealand to Antarctica. Due to a navigational error, the crew flew the aircraft into a mountain during whiteout conditions. All 237 passengers and 20 crew members were killed.
**23 January 1982; World Airways DC10-30CF; Boston, USA:**The aircraft landed on an icy runway and was unable to stop before leaving the runway. The came to rest partially in an adjacent waterway. Part of the fuselage broke off and was in the water. Two of the 198 passengers were killed.
**13 September 1982; Spantax DC10-30CF; Malaga, Spain:**The crew rejected the takeoff at about V1 and were unable to stop the aircraft on the runway. 48 of the 393 passengers were killed.
**24 July 1987; Air Afrique DC10; flight 56: en route Rome-Paris:**The aircraft was on a scheduled international flight from Rome to Paris when the plane was hijacked by a single hijacker and diverted to Geneva, Switzerland to refuel. While on the ground the hijacker shot and killed one passenger. The hijacker was subsequently killed by Swiss police who stormed the plane. None of the 15 crew members were killed, while several passengers were injured while fleeing the plane, none of the other 141 passengers were killed.
**19 July 1989; United Air Lines DC10; flight 232; Sioux City, USA:**While in cruise on a scheduled flight from Denver, CO to Chicago, IL, engine two had an uncontained failure. The failure, which was due by an undetected crack in the engine's fan disk, also damaged hydraulic lines led to a loss of all three hydraulic systems. The flight control systems were powered by the hydraulic system, and as a result were inoperative for the rest of the flight. The crew maneuvered the aircraft to a crash landing at the Sioux City airport using differential thrust on the two remaining engines to control the aircraft. One of the 11 crew members and 110 of the 285 passengers were killed.
More about this crash
**27 July 1989; Korean Airlines DC10-30; Tripoli, Libya:**The aircraft crashed about one mile (1.6 km) short of the airport during a daylight landing attempt in thick fog. Airport navigational equipment for an instrument landing on the intended runway were apparently not working at the time of the event. Four of the 18 crew members and 68 of the 181 passengers were killed. Six persons on the ground were also killed.
**19 September 1989; UTA DC10-30; near N'Djamena, Chad:**The aircraft crashed as a result of an in flight explosion due to a bomb. All 156 passengers and 15 passengers were killed.
**21 December 1992; Martinair DC10-30F; Faro Portugal:**The aircraft landed in a storm, hit a wing tip, and departed the runway. Two of the 13 crew and 56 of the 327 passengers were killed.
**13 June 1996; Garuda Indonesia Airways DC10-30; PK-GIE; flight 865; Fukuoka, Japan:**The aircraft was on a scheduled international flight from Fukuoka, Japan to Bali, Indonesia. The crew aborted the takeoff after the right (number three) engine failed. The crew was unable to stop the aircraft on the runway. The aircraft stopped about 2,000 yards beyond the runway after traveling through a fence and a ditch. The landing gear and wing-mounted engines separated from the aircraft, the fuselage broke into several pieces, and the aircraft caught fire. All 15 passengers survived, three of the 260 passengers were killed, and several dozen other occupants were injured.
More about this crash
Garuda plane crashes
**21 December 1999; Cubana DC10-30; Guatemala City, Guatemala:**The aircraft overran the wet runway and came to rest in a residential neighborhood adjacent to the airport. Eight of the 18 crew members and nine of the 296 passengers were killed. Nine people in the neighborhood were also killed.
**28 October 2016; FedEx Express DC-10; N370FE: flight FX910; Fort Lauderdale, FL:**The aircraft was on a domestic flight from Memphis, TN to Fort Lauderdale, FL. At some point during the landing, the left main landing gear collapsed, and the aircraft came to rest near the landing runway. A fire broke out, seriously damaging the left side of the aircraft. The two crew members were not injured.

Other McDonnell Douglas Models DC9, MD11, MD80, MD90

DC10 plane crashes
http://airsafe.com/events/models/douglas.htm -- Revised: 16 September 2019