A United Airlines DC-10 with 293 aboard crashed just short of Iowa, Sioux City's airport on July 20, 1989, after the pilot tried for thirty minutes to bring the huge aircraft under control. The plane crashed into a cornfield and broke apart, then exploded and burned. 166 passengers walked away; 127 were killed. The cause of the crash was complete hydraulic failure, unusual because the DC-10 has three independent hydraulic systems, each capable of controlling the plane. It is believed that an engine exploded, causing metal shards to cut some common ducts in the tail section, leading to the failure.
A United Airlines DC-10 with 293 aboard crashed just short of Sioux City, Iowa's airport on July 20, 1989, after the pilot tried for thirty minutes to bring the huge aircraft under control. The plane crashed into a cornfield and broke apart, then exploded and burned. 166 passengers walked away; 127 were killed. The cause of the crash was complete hydraulic failure, unusual because the DC-10 has three independent hydraulic systems, each capable of controlling the plane. It is believed that an engine exploded, causing metal shards to cut some common ducts in the tail section, leading to the failure.