On March 3 , 1974 , an almost identical cargo-door blowout caused Turkish Airlines Flight 981 to crash into a forest near the town of Ermenonville , France , shortly after leaving Paris . All 346 people on board were killed ; it was one of the deadliest air crashes of all time . Circumstances of this crash were very similar to the previous accident . The cargo door had not been fully locked , though it appeared so to both cockpit crew and ground personnel . The Turkish aircraft had a different seating configuration that made the effects of decompression much more severe , which caused the aircraft 's floor to collapse into the cargo bay . Control cables running through the floor beams were severed when the floor collapsed and rendered the aircraft uncontrollable . Crash investigators found that the DC-10 's relief vents were not large enough to equalize the pressure between the passenger and cargo compartments during explosive decompression . Following this crash , a special subcommittee of the House of Representatives investigated the cargo-door issue and the FAA 's certification of the original design . An airworthiness directive was issued , and all DC-10s underwent mandatory door modifications . The DC-10 experienced no more major incidents related to its cargo door after FAA-approved changes were made
Turkish Airlines Flight 981
Turkish Airlines Flight 981
McDonnell Douglas DC-10