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Pilot of doomed American Airlines flight uttered one word before all 273 on board killed
Newly highlighted cockpit voice recorder audio reveals the pilot of American Airlines Flight 191 uttered 'damn' just before the aircraft crashed on May 25, 1979, killing all 273 people on board. The crash, caused by engine detachment and subsequent loss of control, remains the deadliest aviation accident in US history.
Final Word: Pilot's Last Utterance Before 1979 Crash
The pilot of American Airlines Flight 191, which crashed shortly after takeoff from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on May 25, 1979, uttered 'damn' as his final recorded word on the cockpit voice recorder. The flight, bound for Los Angeles, carried 258 passengers and 13 crew members; all 273 people aboard died on impact.
The Sequence of Events
The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10, had just lifted off when its left front engine detached from the wing, flipped over, and crashed onto the runway. Investigators later determined that the engine's separation severed hydraulic fluid pipes that keep the wing's slats in place, and about three feet of the left wing was damaged.
With full take-off thrust still engaged, the plane began to roll uncontrollably in the air. The pilot lost control, and the aircraft crashed into a field at the end of the runway.
Aftermath and Investigation
In the weeks following the disaster, the DC-10-10 was taken out of service across all airlines, according to multiple reports. The aircraft's design was later deemed safe and was not considered a factor in the crash. Instead, investigators believed a flawed maintenance procedure during a previous engine change caused the damage that led to the engine's detachment.
American Airlines was fined $500,000, which would equate to approximately $1.4 million in today's money, as reported by the Irish Mirror.
How each outlet told it
Daily Express
Framing: Headline highlights the pilot's final word and the number of casualties, focusing on the dramatic final moment. — Dramatic and sensational, with phrases like 'chilling final word' and 'catastrophic sequence of events'.
Facts Included:
Pilot uttered 'damn' as final word on cockpit voice recorder
Flight departed from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on May 25, 1979
Flight bound for Los Angeles
Aircraft was McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10
Left front engine detached from left wing and slammed onto runway
Engine sliced through hydraulic fluid pipes
About three feet of left wing was severely compromised
Full take-off thrust still engaged
258 passengers and 13 crew members on board
Plane rolled uncontrollably, pilot lost control
Final word was 'damn'
Plane crashed into field at end of runway
All 273 killed on impact
DC-10-10 was grounded across all airlines after two weeks
Aircraft design deemed airworthy, not a factor
Defective maintenance procedure during previous engine replacement believed to be cause
Framing: Headline emphasizes the pilot's final word and the death toll, focusing on the dramatic and distressing aspect of the crash. — Dramatic and sensational, using words like 'horrifying', 'desperate', 'doomed'.
Facts Included:
Pilot uttered 'damn' as final word on cockpit voice recorder
Flight departed from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on May 25, 1979
Flight bound for Los Angeles
Aircraft was McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10
Left front engine detached from left wing, flipped over, crashed onto runway
Engine severed hydraulic fluid pipes
Approximately three feet of left wing damaged
Full take-off thrust still engaged
258 passengers and 13 crew members on board
Plane rolled in air, pilot lost control
Plane crashed into a field at end of runway, killing all 273 on impact
Two weeks after crash, DC-10-10 was taken off runways
Aircraft design later stated as safe
Flawed maintenance procedure during previous engine change thought to have caused damage
American Airlines fined $500,000, equivalent to $1.4 million today
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimThe pilot's final word before the crash was 'damn'.