UAL 232: The Sioux City Crash

More good luck: timing and location. The accident occurred over the Midwestern plains instead of the Rockies. Had the accident happened earlier in the flight and UAL 232 attempted to return to Denver, the chance of anyone surviving the wreck would have been remote indeed. The accident occurred over Sioux City, Iowa; a city that boasts one of the most competent EMS structures in the nation, and a city perhaps more prepared than any other at the time to mobilize for a mass-casualty incident. It was 4:00 p.m., shift change, when the city's emergency medical elements were notified of the stricken aircraft circling above. All hospitals, ambulance companies and fire stations held over their day personnel and were thus double-staffed. Finally, 19 July was the one day that month that the 185th Iowa Air National Guard was training, at their airfield adjacent to Sioux City Gateway. As Al Haynes lined up with runway 22, Sioux City, Iowa was as ready as any city could possibly be to deal with disaster.

The images of that flaming DC-10 cartwheeling down the runway and into a cornfield have become one of the most enduring in recent memory. One hundred people lost their lives. But 185 survived. The incredible airmanship that not only brought UAL 232 back to earth, but actually put the nosewheel nearly on the runway centerline, is nearly beyond comprehension. In fact, nearly every DC-10 pilot in the world has tried to replicate the feat of Haynes and Fitch in the simulator, and have never been able to do so. Al Haynes, Dennis Fitch and William Records deny to this day that they did anything extraordinary, but the world begs to differ. So much went wrong that day, but so much more went right. And three exceptional pilots became lifesavers and heroes.

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