The skill of a veteran pilot may have saved the lives of the 176 people who survived a fiery crash of a United Airlines DC-10 as it made an emergency landing Wednesday afternoon.
For 30 gut-wrenching minutes before the crash, the pilot struggled to fly the disabled plane 50 miles - after the tail cone section fell off - to the Sioux City airport.Then, as emergency personnel watched helplessly, the huge plane slammed down on the runway, flipped over, lost its wings and burst into a huge fireball, spewing wreckage and bodies into an adjacent cornfield. Yet many walked away from the flaming wreckage, and at least 176 survived.
"Our pilot was a hero. He really saved our butts," said John Transue, 40, a survivor of the crash.
The airline also praised the pilot, A.C. Haynes of Seattle, a 30-year veteran who fought for 45 minutes to bring the plane in for an emergency landing after an apparent explosion in an engine damaged its controls.
Survivors painted a picture of calm in the moments before the impact, as the pilot warned all aboard to brace for a rough landing. Those who survived described the aftermath as horrifying.
"I thought I was going to die," said 8-year-old Ben Radtke of Prarie View, Ill., who was carried out of the fractured fuselage by a passenger. The boy, shaking but unhurt, clutched a United Airlines button and a pair of plastic pilot's wings as he spoke.
National Guardsmen scoured the cornfield Thursday for survivors or victims. But CNN reported that emergency officials believe most of the 43 missing were in the fuselage and likely did not survive.
Rescuers found 74 bodies from the crash of United Airlines Flight 232, some scattered on an inactive Sioux Gateway Airport runway, some strapped to their seats and some in a field of corn 4 feet high.
A flight recorder also was recovered, authorities said.
Flight 232, from Denver to Philadelphia via Chicago, carried 11 crew members and 282 passengers, including three infants, said United spokesman Lawrence Nagin.
The Seattle-based cockpit crew survived and was being treated for injuries at a hospital, Nagin said.
In addition to Haynes, a 33-year United veteran, the crew included First Officer W.R. Records and Second Officer D.J. Dvorak.
The 15-year-old jumbo jet had "complete hydraulic failure" before Wednesday afternoon's crash, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Fred Farrar said.
Hydraulic systems provide power steering that allows pilots to manipulate the wing and tail controls of the jumbo jet. Without it, aviation officials say the plane would be uncontrollable.
The tail engine failed, and this may have caused a hydraulic failure, said Bob Raynesford, another FAA spokesman. The plane's three independent hydraulic systems are routed to the tail section.
Nagin said he did not know if hydraulic problems were a factor.
The crash left a swath of charred runway and strewed bits of people's lives over an area larger than three football fields: two sets of golf clubs, a wallet photo of a brunette in her prom dress, a Reebok tennis shoe, a purple hairdryer, one black high-heeled shoe and a collection of Marilyn Monroe photographs.
Parts of the plane, apparently from the tail piece and engine, were found about 50 miles away.
Four people near Alta, 55 miles east of Sioux City, discovered one piece, 6 or 7 feet high and 6 feet long, in a corn field.
Four miles away, Allen and Phil Jahde found three pieces of the plane scattered in their cornfield. Phil Jahde said one piece was a 6-foot-long metal band, engraved ENG 2.
"It's remarkable to us that he made it that far back with the pieces he's losing," he said.
Nagin could not confirm that parts of the plane had fallen off.
The plane apparently experienced problems earlier in the day. Ruth Dinsmore, of Mount Laurel, N.J., said she took the same DC-10 from Philadelphia to Denver in the morning. The plane made the return trip later in the day.
She said the plane began to leave the terminal at Philadelphia International Airport shortly after 10 a.m., when "everything sort of shut off." The plane taxied back to the terminal, where it sat about 15 minutes for repairs.
In Sioux City, officials from the National Transportation Safety Board were conducting an investigation.
*****
(Additional information)
Emergency landing
A United Airlines DC-10 flying from New York to San Francisco made an unscheduled landing at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago Thursday because an engine went out, authorities said.
The plane landed without incident, and there were no injuries.
The incident occurred just one day after another United DC-10 crashed and burned in Sioux City, Iowa.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mort Edelstein said the pilot of Flight 23 "experienced a problem with the No. 1 engine, shut it down and asked to divert to O'Hare."
Edelstein said the pilot "might have had a minor malfunction and didn't want to take a chance for safety reasons."
The No. 1 engine is a wing engine on a DC-10.
Fire Battalion Chief Raymond Rickert said O'Hare fire equipment was mobilized but was not needed.