How 3 Pilots Saved 184 Lives, Miraculously Landing a United Passenger Jet After Total Hydraulic Failure

NEED TO KNOW

• A United Airlines DC-10 crash-landed in Iowa in 1989 after suffering total hydraulic failure mid-flight

• Three pilots, including a passenger who was a training instructor, worked together to land the plane, saving 184 lives that day

• The crash led to new safety regulations and design changes to prevent similar aviation disasters in the future

On July 19, 1989, three pilots' heroic efforts saved the lives of 184 passengers when a United Airlines passenger jet crash-landed in Iowa.

United flight 232 departed from Stapleton International Airport in Denver at approximately 2:09 p.m. local time, and was heading for Chicago O'Hare International Airport. According to Britannica , the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft was holding 285 passengers and 11 crew members at the time. 

The flight, which was piloted by Captain Alfred Haynes and First Officer William Records, had a smooth takeoff and uneventful first hour of the journey. At approximately one hour and seven minutes into the flight, at around 3:16 p.m., disaster struck when a sudden loud bang was heard by the passengers and crew on board, according to the Federal Aviation Administration . 

What came next was a "vibration and shuddering of the airframe," which prompted the crew to check the engine instruments. According to Britannica, one of the fan blades in the rear engine had cracked and disintegrated, leading to engine failure. 

Per the FAA, the failure caused engine debris to damage all three hydraulic lines in the aircraft's tail section, which are crucial to steering the plane. Suddenly, the aircraft ascended and started rolling to the right as the pilots desperately worked to realign the aircraft.

After realizing both the autopilot and manual controls were not working, Haynes "closed the throttle to the left engine and pushed all the power to the right, and the aircraft righted itself," per Britannica. 

The crew then notified Air Traffic Control of their urgent situation and were advised to attempt a landing at Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa. A United Airlines DC-10 training instructor, Dennis Fitch, happened to be a passenger on the flight, and he immediately jumped in to help with the landing, according to the online encyclopedia. 

Fitch was instructed by Haynes to man the throttles of the two remaining engines, as that gave them slight control of the direction the aircraft was flying. In the meantime, Haynes and Records attempted to get the normal flight controls up and running again. 

Around 3:46 p.m., the crew was able to align the plane with the runway as it prepared to land, only after Fitch was able to get the throttles to tilt the plane as much to the left as possible. 

Despite their efforts, the plane crash-landed in a cornfield due to the aircraft's steep descent toward the runway at too high a speed. As a result, the plane tilted and the right wing broke off as it struck the ground. The cockpit also broke off, and fuel from the aircraft ignited during the process. 

Emergency responders and vehicles were already at the scene and ready to meet the aircraft upon landing. 184 passengers survived, as well as all those in the cockpit. 110 passengers and one flight attendant perished during the crash. 

PEOPLE previously spoke to Spencer Bailey, one of the survivors of the crash , whose photograph of him being carried away from the wreckage by a National Guardsman has been immortalized since that tragic day in 1989.

Bailey, who was just one month away from turning four years old at the time, survived the tragedy alongside his older brother. Their mother, Frances "Francie" Lockwood Bailey, died while protecting her sons during the crash. 

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"There's a sense that she's always been looking over us. It's incredible for me to think [we] were the last thing she was holding onto," Bailey previously reflected to PEOPLE. "I wonder, had she not put us down into the brace position, had she not put her arms over the backs of us, would either of us not be here?"

Since the crash, new rules have been put in place to prevent another tragedy like this from happening again. According to Britannica, modern aircraft's design has decreased the likelihood that all control systems could be lost simultaneously, while there have also been new regulations put in place regarding turbine inspection and manufacturing.

Read the original article on People