PROLOGUE
Gregory S. Clapper drove into the hills: Clapper; Clapper, Gregory S., 1999, When the World Breaks Your Heart: Spiritual Ways of Living with Tragedy (Nashville, TN: Upper Room Books).
Sioux Gateway Airport: In 2002, the name of the airport was changed to the Sioux Gateway Airport Colonel Bud Day Field.
CHAPTER ONE
“picnic” lunch: Fitch.
Far ahead of Martha Conant and . . . Dave Randa: All scenes in the cockpit reconstructed using Jan Brown; Dvorak; Haynes; Murray; Records; Corrie, Stephan J., 1989, Cockpit Voice Recorder Group Chairman’s Factual Report of Investigation, September 1, Exhibit 12-A; Transcript of ATC Communications Involving UAL232 H/DC10, July 19, 1989, Sioux City Approach Control, 1989, August 4, Exhibit 3-B; Transcript of the Aeronautical Radio, Inc. (ARINC) Communication Recording Pertaining to United Airlines Flight 232 on July 19, 1989 (undated), Exhibit 2-E. Also, Morris, Errol, 2001, “Leaving the Earth,” from his television series First Person, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPu0chBQeUK (accessed September 18, 2013). Additional material comes from Haynes, Al, 1991, “The Crash of United Flight 232,” talk given at NASA Ames Research Center, Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA, May 24, at http://www.clear-prop.org/aviation/haynes.html (accessed August 10, 2012).
Walter Sperks, eighty-one: “Services for Air Crash Victims,” 1989, Chicago Tribune, July 26, at http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-07-26/news/8902200585_1_kimberly-brothers-mr-cheng (accessed June 10, 2013).
DC-10 manual does briefly mention: Exhibit 2-G, p. 64; DC-10 Flight Manual Handbook, p. 357, published in “Excerpt from United Airlines DC-10 Flight Manual Handbook, “Irregular Procedures Section” (undated, unsigned), Exhibit 2-G.
acutely aware that a United Airlines 747: Jan Brown; NTSB Aircraft Accident Report AAR90-01, “United Airlines Flight 811, Boeing 747-122, N4713U, Honolulu, Hawaii, February 24, 1989.” Available from www.ntsb.gov.
Jerry Schemmel: Schemmel, Jerry, 1996, Chosen to Live: The Inspiring Story of Flight 232 Survivor Jerry Schemmel (Littleton, CO: Victory Publishing); Schemmel, pers. comm., May 25, 27, and 31, and June 7, 2013.
As she passed into B-Zone: Seating arrangement reconstructed using Diegel, Raymond P. (undated), Survival Factors Group Chairman’s Factual Report of Investigation, Exhibit 6-A, pp. 49–50; Diegel, Raymond P. (undated), Occupant Injury Chart and Seating Diagram, Exhibit 6-Z. In addition, I compared this information with seating charts published by the Rocky Mountain News, July 21, 1989; and New York Times, July 25, 1989, at http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/25/us/passengers-and-crew-in-dc-10-crash-in-iowa.html (accessed February 2, 2012). Those charts contained errors, and where possible, I have corrected those errors by verifying seating with the passengers themselves or relying on Diegel (undated).
Sundstrand model AV557B: Corrie 1989, pp. 2–3.
At around the time Dudley Dvorak declared: All scenes in the control tower reconstructed using Bates; Mleynek; Swetnam; Zielezinski; Corrie, 1989; Exhibit 2-E; Exhibit 3-B; Haynes 1991; Morris 2001.
airplane is a submarine of the air: Description of DC-10 flight controls from Hydraulic Power and Flight Controls Systems Descriptions, Exhibit 9-C.
crew was then completely disconnected: GE Comments, p. 98.
“There is no one out there”: NTSB Transcript, p. 135.
At about 3:40 the emergency dispatcher: Greco, David, 1989, The Today Show, NBC, July 20.
Dale Mleynek called Al Smith: Mleynek; FAA tape of control tower transmissions. In response to Freedom of Information Act Request number 2013-002768, Teresa A. Bruner, regional administrator, Southwest region, of the FAA, wrote a letter to me dated April 1, 2013, stating that all FAA records pertaining to the crash of United Flight 232 had “been discarded in accordance with our records retention directive, FAA Order 7210.3, Section 4.” However, Mleynek provided a copy of those transmissions, while Lindblade provided copies of other transmissions.
Smith and his wingman Romaine “Ben” Bendixen: Bendixen; Bendixen, Romaine, undated, untitled, unpublished memoir.
CHAPTER TWO
Fitch had first noticed: Murray; Morris 2001.
“A flight attendant is not a pilot”: Morris 2001.
He clearly saw that the motor pumps: Exhibit 2-D, p. 3.
Or it might enter into an uncontrollable flutter: MacIntosh.
Fitch passed Paul Burnham: White boards.
Allen would eventually escape: Haynes; Rehnberg; Allen, Peter, pers. comm., December 23, 2013.
“Unlock that fuckin’ door!”: The NTSB does not print swear words. It inserts the symbol #, which stands for “expletive deleted.” Haynes told me, “I got very infuriated with the constant knocking on the door.” I tried to give him an easy out by suggesting that he’d said “that goddamned door.” He told me, “No, I said the F-word.”
pilots who later attempted landings: Clark; NTSB Transcript, pp. 186–187.
“maintenance experts”: Haynes 1991.
“They know this airplane cold”: Morris 2001.
later that evening, the chief training officer for the DC-10: Williams, Mary Alice (Anchor), 1989, NBC News Special Report, July 19.
CHAPTER THREE
Couleur . . . had a titanium shoulder: White boards.
“Hey, we’re in this thing together”: Schemmel 1996, p. 28.
Charles Kenneth Bosscher: DeJong; Schemmel 1996, p. 49.
“I never would forget that face”: Schemmel 1996, p. 50.
Two rows behind Ramsdell: Feeney; Poole; Poole, Marcia, 1989, “Survival Amazes Teen Who Jumped,” Sioux City Journal, July 27, p. A:1:5.
past Karin Elizabeth Sass, thirty-two, who was pregnant: White boards.
He was so keyed up with adrenaline: The term adrenaline is colloquial shorthand. A description of the chemicals involved in stress can be found in Laurence Gonzales, 2004, Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why (New York: W. W. Norton), p. 36.
Brown spun on her heel and rushed back: Jan Brown; Dvorak; Haynes; Records; Corrie 1989. Jan Brown did not remember leaving the cockpit and returning to tell Dvorak about the tail. She remembers her conversation with Haynes taking place within the first ten minutes of the flight. But the knocks on the door and the conversation were picked up on the cockpit voice recorder. At 3:40 and 45 seconds in the afternoon, almost twenty-five minutes after the explosion, Haynes began by saying, “We almost have no control of the airplane.” She did remember saying “that rear wing” instead of “the horizontal stabilizer,” which confused the pilots at first.
“a good bit larger”: NTSB Transcript, p. 814.
Jasumati J. Patel, whose jewelry: White boards; photographs.
At about nineteen minutes to four in the afternoon: Dvorak; Haynes; Records; Morris 2001; Grossi, Dennis, 1989, Flight Data Recorder Group Chairman’s Factual Report of Investigation, September 5, Exhibit 10-A.
“getting in tune”: Morris 2001.
“It just became like the airplane”: Morris 2001.
“My husband was a hero”: Fitch, Rosa, pers. comm., July 8, 2013.
“The first time Dave mentioned”: Randa, Tammy, pers. comm., February 23, 2013.
She was feeding her red rosary beads: Eck; Stevens; Eck, Larry, and Mary Sue Eck (undated), “Mary Was Their Co-Pilot,” Medjugorje Magazine, pp. 20–29. See also Heise, Kenan, 1996, “Survived Iowa Plane Crash,” Chicago Tribune, November 14, at http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-11-14/news/9611140077_1_plane-convent-crash (accessed September 19, 2013).
Her tattoo of a bunny: White boards.
“had to hold onto the seats”: NTSB Transcript, p. 30.
CHAPTER FOUR
General Electric made the engines: General Electric Aircraft Engines is now called GE Aviation. I use GE or General Electric throughout.
CF6 engines that powered November 1819 Uniform: Technical information about jet engines from Gunston, Bill, 2006, The Development of Jet and Turbine Aero Engines (Sparkford, England: Patrick Stephens); Hünecke, Klaus, 1997, Jet Engines: Fundamentals of Theory, Design and Operation (Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International); General Electric website at http://www.geaviation.com/engines/commercial/ (accessed June 16, 2012). Confirmation and additional technical information from Benzon; Cherolis; Clark; MacIntosh; Wildey; Wizniak.
thirty-nine thousand pounds of thrust: NTSB Transcript, p. 205.
Spinning at about thirty-five hundred: Besuner, Philip M., et al., 1990, “Stress and Fatigue Crack Growth Analyses of the CF-6 Fan Disk Failure during United Airlines Flight 232” (Sunnyvale, CA: Aptech Engineering Services), February, pp. 1–4; NTSB Transcript, p. 401.
air goes through four low-pressure stages: Lironi, Paolo, 2007, “CF6-80C2 Engine History and Evolution,” Engine Yearbook (London: Simon Barker), p. 80.
Most people never fully realize: Newhouse, John, 1982, The Sporty Game: The High-Risk Competitive Business of Making and Selling Commercial Airliners (New York: Alfred A. Knopf), reprinted in Fielder, John H., and Douglas Birsch, 1992, The DC-10 Case: A Study in Applied Ethics, Technology, and Society (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press), pp. 55–57.
When Boeing was about to introduce the 707: Johnston, A. M., 1991, Tex Johnston: Jet-Age Test Pilot (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press), pp. 202–204. See also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rILk6-4SMJQ (accessed January 10, 2013).
By the time United Flight 232 crashed: Fielder and Birsch 1992, pp. 56–57.
It began powering commercial flights in 1971: General Electric website at http://www.geaviation.com/aboutgeae/history.html (accessed April 25, 2012).
engine has put in more hours of service: General Electric website at http://www.geaviation.com/engines/commercial/ (accessed April 9, 2012).
The mechanics swapped engines freely: Young, John G., 1989, Maintenance Records Group Chairman’s Factual Report of Investigation, October 23, Exhibit 11-A; Aircraft Engine Historical Data, Exhibit 11-B; Maintenance Release Documents (undated), Exhibit 11-C.
Debbie and Ruth were tennis partners: McKelvey.
Cinnamon was traveling alone: White.
press later reported: Zahren, Bill, and John Quinlan, 1989, “Pilot Could Be Seen Struggling,” Sioux City Journal, July 21, p. A:12:1.
CHAPTER FIVE
72 It had rained a bit earlier in Washington, D.C.: All weather reconstructed using Historical Weather at www.wunderground.com/history (accessed September 18, 2013).
At about 4:30 in the afternoon, the director: MacIntosh.
in 1985 a Japan Airlines 747: Aviation Safety Network at http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19850812-1 (accessed July 15, 2013).
“Bob, this is a big one”: Benzon; MacIntosh.
She had sent a postcard: Scene reconstructed using Jan Brown; Conant; Griffin; Hatch; McDowell; McGrady; Owens; Dave and Susan Randa; White.
Fitch understood that they had 369,000 pounds: AAR-90/06, p. 11.
nearly 250 miles an hour: The speed varied widely as the plane went through its phugoid oscillations. In the last few minutes, the flight data recorder showed speeds ranging from 179.50 knots (206.6 miles an hour) to 215.00 knots (247.1 miles an hour). Grossi, 1989, pp. 57–61.
“But,” he later said: Morris 2001.
Sioux City airport leased about a thousand acres: NTSB Transcript, p. 61.
left engine spooled up: As the right wing began dipping, the right (number three) engine went from 38.91 to 81.01 percent power at impact, but its power lagged behind that of the left (number one) engine. Grossi, 1989, p. 60.
relationship between the position of the throttle: NTSB Transcript, p. 169.
Some of the banks of seats were thrown high: Owens. Also, this was reported by numerous eyewitnesses and can be seen on the video of the crash, available at laurencegonzales.com.
CHAPTER SIX
seven-foot fan on the front of the CF6-6: Information about titanium and other metals from Donachie, Matthew J., Jr. (ed.), 1988, Titanium: A Technical Guide (Metals Park, OH: ASM International); Lütjering, Gerd, and James C. Williams, 2003, Titanium (New York: Springer-Verlag); International Titanium Association, 2011, Titanium the Metal, video provided by Jennifer Simpson, executive director (see www.titanium.org for more information). Confirmation and additional technical information from Benzon; Brate; Cherolis; Clark; MacIntosh; Socie; Wizniak; Wildey.
varying the thickness: Lütjering and Williams, 2003, p. 356.
It is so tough that about half a million square feet: Lütjering and Williams, 2003, p. 354.
Christopher Glynn: NTSB Transcript, p. 409.
most likely Roland Stig Larson: Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z, p. 27 and seating charts.
He may have been seeing Larry Niehus: Dvorak; Niehus; Records.
As the A-7 pilots watched, the tail came to a stop: Dickens, Bobby L. (undated), Witness Group Chairman Report of Factual Investigation, Exhibit 4-A, p. 17. Major Harry E. Greer III, who had just landed an A-7, wrote in this report, “The large tail section spun off and slid to a stop on the taxiway in front of us about 1,000 feet.”
“We hit so hard”: Morris 2001.
suffered minor injuries: Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z, pp. 16–30 and seating charts.
“Like a pinwheel”: Morris 2001.
Bachman turned away: Quinlan, John, 1989, “Flight 232 Tower Crew Works as Team,” Sioux City Journal, August 26, p. A:1:2.
went unsteadily down the tower stairs: Associated Press, 1989, “Traffic Controller Honored,” Sioux City Journal, August 19, A:1:1.
“MAC, I, we have the airplane down one half mile from the airport”: Undated, unsigned transcript of emergency services radio transmissions, titled “Transcripts Siouxland Health Services United Flight 232,” p. 10.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Brad Griffin had his hands on the first class seat: Clapper; Griffin.
When the command to brace came: Dave and Susan Randa; White.
Kari and Thomas were able to let themselves down: Kari and David Milford.
For mysteriously, money had begun to appear: Gary Brown; Kaplan, Dave, pers. comm., December 22, 2013; Walker; Zortman, R. Doc, pers. comm., October 25, 2013.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your first flight attendant”: United Airlines Land Evacuation Checklist, Exhibit 6-E.
CHAPTER EIGHT
before 1819 Uniform was within sight: Gary Brown; Lindblade 1989.
The radio chatter, however, betrayed: Lindblade, George, 1989, Alert 3: The Crash of UA 232 Sioux City, Iowa, July 19, 1989 (Sioux City, IA: G. R. Lindblade).
Gary Brown had lobbied: Gary Brown; Lindblade.
“We have a DC-nine, er, ten”: Lindblade 1989.
“We encountered dense smoke”: Lindblade 1989. Also unpublished 1989 interviews by Lindblade.
“It was very hot”: Lindblade 1989.
food service staff began carrying out: Gary Brown.
Eighty-eight people arrived at Marian for treatment: Lindblade 1989.
“I’ll tell you a secret”: Dieber.
acting Woodbury County medical examiner, Dr. Gene Herbek: Herbek; Lindblade 1989.
Some time that afternoon, a forensic pathologist: Herbek; Randall.
DeJong worked there: DeJong; Herbek; Randall.
CHAPTER NINE
great fan at the front of the CF6-6 engine: Information on jet engines from Gunston 2006; Hünecke 1997; General Electric website at http://www.geaviation.com/engines/commercial/ (accessed June 16, 2012). Confirmation and additional technical information from Benzon; Cherolis; Clark; MacIntosh; Wildey; Wizniak.
“It is usual to design each fuel burner”: Gunston 2006, p. 29.
“We elected to design”: NTSB Transcript, pp. 439, 447.
Ward Palmer, Johnson’s paramedic supervisor: Palmer; Lindblade 1989.
Among those volunteers, Jim Walker: Gary Brown; and Walker.
“there were a lot of people”: NTSB Transcript, p. 86.
As Bendixen approached, Chaplain Clapper: Bendixen; Clapper; Dvorak; Records.
Upton Rehnberg worked for Sundstrand: Scene reconstructed using Jan Brown; Rehnberg; Transue; Rehnberg, Upton (undated), Brace, Brace, Brace (unpublished memoir).
wall of flame had passed through the coach cabin: Crash sequence in this and other chapters reconstructed using interviews with passengers, crew members from the flight deck and cabin, and videos taken by Scott Plambeck of the 185th and Bob Buxom from the television station KTIV. I checked those sources against eyewitnesses on the ground and in the control tower. Additional information from Benzon; MacIntosh; Walker; Wizniak; Zahren; and Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-A.
clear that she would not be able to escape: Jan Brown; Transue.
From the time of the crash: NTSB Transcript, p. 128.
most urgent job Harrington had before him: Operations in morgue reconstructed using Collins; DeJong; Filippi; Henry; Herbek; Randall; photographs; white boards; Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z.
Harrington now recalled that a C-130: Harrington; Gonsolley, Bob, 1989, “Area Helicopter Service Enables Hospitals to Respond Quickly to Crash,” Sioux City Journal, August 6, p. unknown; photographs.
Moments later the phone rang: Filippi.
CHAPTER TEN
In 1989, the Sioux City Journal: Scenes of reporting reconstructed using Fageol; Poole; Porter; Quinlan; Reinders; Zahren. Also, Olson, Cal, 1989, “When United Flight 232 Crash-Landed,” Editor and Publisher, August 12, pp. 14–25; Poole, Marcia, 1997, “Close Enough to Feel,” master’s thesis, University of Nebraska, August.
“There was so much out there”: Poole 1997, p. 15.
woman named Lynn Hartter: Hartter; Nielsen. Also, Dickens (undated), pp. 10–12.
“It is doubtful, however”: Poole 1997, p. 30.
Zenor, however, was in shock: Poole 1997; Zenor, Shari J., 1989, “Typical Day Becomes Day of Disaster,” Sioux City Journal, July 20, p. A:12:1.
Just before the crash, a volunteer: Kaplan, Dave, pers. comm., December 13–18, 2013.
Jim Allen, a lieutenant with Engine 5: Rescue of the pilots reconstructed using Bendixen; Clapper; Dvorak; Haynes; Records; White; Lindblade 1989; Morris 2001. Also, Schossow, Rebecca, and Bobbi Peters, 1989, “How Did Individual Units React? Here Are Two Stories,” Sioux City Journal, August 6, p. A:8:5.
“trapped in this wreckage”: Lindblade 1989.
“a large amount of cash blowing around”: Gary Brown; Walker.
Dave Kaplan, one of Gary Brown’s volunteers: Kaplan, Dave, pers. comm., December 22, 2013.
United Airlines issued a denial: “United Denies Money Rumor,” 1989, Sioux City Journal, July 25, A:4:5.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Margo Crain, thirty-one, was on her way to Chicago: Crain; Crain, Margo, undated, untitled, unpublished memoir.
Ruth wore a ring: White boards.
To make a useful engineering material: Description of making titanium compiled using Wildey; Young 1989; United Airlines Fan Disk and Fan Rotor Inspection Records (undated), Exhibit 11-G; Fan Disk Serial Number MPO00385 Manufacturing Records (undated), Exhibit 11-K; Titanium Billet and Disk Forging Manufacturing Records (undated), International Titanium Association 2011; Exhibit 11-L; Donachie 1988, pp. 37–44; GE Comments, pp. 73–74; NTSB Transcript, pp. 463, 468–469.
“There is a significant ‘art’ content”: Lütjering and Williams, 2003, p. 61.
In early 1971, TIMET had to blend: GE Comments, pp. 73–74.
They then chemically cleaned the chunks: GE comments, pp. 73–74.
“an arc, of specified amperage”: GE Comments, p. 74.
They were searching for places: NTSB Transcript, pp. 463–464.
“There’s basically two levels of quality”: NTSB Transcript, pp. 468–469.
technicians then impressed the identifying label: NTSB Transcript, pp. 500–507.
It left on a Glen Cartage truck: Titanium Metals Corporation of America, sales order 59-55796, March 26, 1971, Certificate of Test, Notice of Shipment, found in Titanium Billet and Disk Forging Manufacturing Records (undated), Exhibit 11-L, p. 7.
Muto and Skaanes sat on the ground: Photograph provided by Bendixen.
Boese’s neck was broken: Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z, p. 19 and seating charts.
As the clock struck midnight: Skaanes, Gitte, pers. comm., February 25, 2013.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Robert MacIntosh left his office at NTSB: Benzon; Lopatkiewicz; MacIntosh.
Theirs was not the only Go Team: NTSB Transcript, pp. 196–197.
Ten minutes before 1819 Uniform crashed: Scene reconstructed using Badis; Bayless; Benham; Martz; Amy Mobley; Rusty Mobley; Priest; Joan Wernick; Pete Wernick; Will Wernick. Also, Schemmel 1996; Martz, Charles R., 1989, Recollections of the Crash of UAL Flight 232 July 19, 1989, Dictated by Charles R. Martz (unpublished memoir), November 6.
man sitting behind him, Walter Williams: White boards; Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z, p. 13 and seating charts.
In some places the ceiling had been crushed: AAR-90/06, p. 39. Also, photographs of the burned victims trapped in the wreckage and video taken July 20, 1989, by Dan Potts, a paramedic.
“I knew at that moment”: Schemmel 1996, p. 57.
“I remember being in the brace position”: Diegel 1989 (undated), Exhibit 6-Z, pp. 49–50; NTSB Transcript, p. 918.
“I know I couldn’t see anything”: Schemmel, 1996, p. 60.
When the engine blew up, Sister Mary later said: Eck; Eck and Eck (undated).
When he reached them: Schemmel 1996, pp. 66–67.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
When the billet of titanium: NTSB Transcript, pp. 500–501.
“All of the preforming work”: NTSB Transcript, pp. 500–501.
ring of metal was cut from around the bore: NTSB Transcript, p. 503.
As James W. Tucker: NTSB Transcript, p. 557.
Douglas installed the engine on a brand new DC-10: AAR-90/06, p. 15.
Tony Feeney, the skinny fourteen-year-old boy: Feeney; Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z, p. 54.
Feeney made the sign of the cross: Briggs-Bunting, Jane, David Diamond and Jack Hayes, 1989, “Here I Was Sitting at the Edge of Eternity,” Life, September, pp. 28–39.
“The teenager clearly remembers”: Poole 1989.
“After impact, I made my way”: Hayes 1989, pp. 28–39.
startling number of people who were thrown out of the plane: Bendixen; Gary Brown; Clapper; Nielsen; Olivier; Owens; Palmer; Walker. Also, Zahren, Bill, 1989, “Fax Helps Father’s Injuries Heal,” Sioux City Journal, July 30, p. A:16:3.
In the moments immediately after the crash, the control tower was quiet: Bates; Gochenour; Mleynek; Norton; Zielezinski; FAA tower tapes provided by Mleynek and Lindblade.
“Sam says he’s got survivors out there”: Mleynek, Zielezinski.
Air National Guard nurse named Pam Christianson: Dee, Emily, 1990, Souls on Board (Freeman, SD: Loess Hills Press; Sioux City, IA, Pine Hill Press), p. 89.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Wandering around inside the McDonnell Douglas plant: Personal visit to McDonnell Douglas, December 1979.
It had taken twenty million hours: NTSB Transcript, p. 815.
Charles Burgess was the last member of Titanic’s crew: Lord, Walter (1955), 1987, A Night to Remember (Holt, Reinhart & Winston; reprint, Mattituck, NY: Amereon House), p. 169 (citation from American edition).
270,000 parts: Hornburg, Robert, senior engineer, DC-10, McDonnell Douglas, pers. comm., December 1979.
“I had to put her on the floor”: Michaelson, Lori, interviewed by KTIV, Channel 4, Sioux City, July 19, 1990.
Gerald Harlon “Gerry” Dobson, forty-six: Ayers and Associated Press, 1989, “Crash of Flight 232 Claims 112th Victim,” Sioux City Journal, August 21, p. A:1:1.
His wife Joann and their companions: Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z, p. 2 and seating charts.
Dobson couldn’t talk but was able to communicate: Quinn, Laura, 1989, “Harlon ‘Gerry’ Dobson, 46; United Plane Crash Victim,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 21, at http://articles.philly.com/1989-08-21/news/26146807_1_plane-crash-victim-state-trooper-bob-dobson (accessed September 25, 2013).
Shen would likely have been killed: Jan Brown; Shen.
Nurses and specialists who happened to be visiting: Quinlan, John, 1989, “Scores of Siouxland Nurses Show Up to Care for Injured,” Sioux City Journal, July 25, p. A:22:1.
She returned to St. Luke’s to find a young man: Ayers and Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z, p. 21 and seating charts.
Jan Brown wound up: Jan Brown; Murray.
Joan Wernick, Dr. Banjo’s wife: Joan Wernick.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
At one or two o’clock on the morning: Scene reconstructed using Benzon; Gary Brown; Hilldrup; Lopatkiewicz; MacIntosh; Swetnam.
stately edifice on a bluff: Personal visit to Briar Cliff University (formerly College), July 16, 2012.
Mark Zielezinski, still in the control tower: Zielezinski.
Leo Miller, the Sheriff of Woodbury County: Lindblade 1989.
In the hours after the crash, Chaplain Clapper: Clapper; Clapper 1999.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
moon was still up: Scene reconstructed using Benzon; MacIntosh. Also, NTSB Transcript, pp. 198–201.
Daniel Murphy, the postmaster: Gunsolley, Bob, 1989, “Flight 232’s Mail Survives Nearly Unscathed,” Sioux City Journal, August 2, p. A:1:1.
Wizniak, who was seventy-eight years old: Scene reconstructed using Benzon; MacIntosh; Wizniak. Also, NTSB Transcript, pp. 198–209, 265; Wizniak, Ed, 1989, Powerplants Group Chairman’s Factual Report of Investigation, October 10, Exhibit 8-A.
Even as late as the Saturday after the crash: “United Experts Unable to Answer Pilot Pleas,” 1989, Omaha World-Herald, July 22, p. 1.
John Moehring took charge: NTSB Transcript, pp. 258–260.
Christopher Glynn: NTSB Transcript, pp. 365–366.
searchers found three of the twenty nuts: Wildey, James F., 1989, Metallurgist’s Factual Report 89-117, October 13, Exhibit 15-C, p. 2; GE Comments, p. 108.
At about six o’clock on the evening of the crash: DeJong; Filippi; Herbek; Randall; Lindblade 1989.
“Conventional wisdom suggested”: Randall, Brad, 1991, “Body Retrieval and Morgue Operations at the Crash of United Flight 232,” Journal of Forensic Sciences, March, pp. 403–409.
“First there was a reference point”: Randall.
the guardsmen, squatting on the painted concrete floor: Herbek; photographs.
Gary Brown began to realize: Gary Brown and Lindblade 1989.
Randall explained that if an accident such as this: Information about the National Disaster Medical System from Filippi; Herbek; Randall; U.S. Government website at http://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/responders/ndms/teams/Pages/dmort.aspx (accessed December 15, 2012).
Once a body was ready to be moved: DeJong; Filippi; Herbek; Randall.
first person, given the number 1: White boards; “Cause of Death for MEN, by age, from crash of United Flight 232, on 7-19-89” (undated, unpaginated draft autopsy report), provided by Bendixen. Also, Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z, p. 27.
“Two cranes were connected to the remaining landing gear”: Monserrate, Robert, and Dennis Chapman, 1990, “The Crash of United Flight 232: The Use of Forensic Personnel in the Collection and Identification of the Victims, the Psychological Aftermath, and Recommendations,” presented at International Symposium on the Forensic Aspects of Mass Disasters and Crime Scene Reconstruction, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA, June 23–29.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
On February 24, 1989, United Airlines had enjoyed: Doughty; NTSB Aircraft Accident Report AAR-92/02, “Explosive Decompression, Loss of Cargo Door in Flight, United Airlines Flight 811, Boeing 747-122, N4713U, Honolulu, Hawaii, February 24, 1989,” adopted March 18, 1992, available at www.ntsb.gov. Also, Reinhold, Robert, 1989, “Aboard Flight 811: Passengers’ Routine Dissolves into Terror,” New York Times, February 26, at http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/26/us/aboard-flight-811-passengers-routine-dissolves-into-terror.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm (accessed May 11, 2013).
United Flight 173: NTSB Aircraft Accident Report AAR-79-7, “United Airlines, Inc., McDonnell-Douglas DC-8-61, N8082U, Portland, Oregon, December 28, 1978,” June 7, 1979, p. 9, available at www.ntsb.gov.
obscure the logos on the wrecked aircraft: As with most law and custom in aviation, this practice was borrowed from maritime conventions. When the Cunard cruise liner Carpathia arrived in New York carrying the survivors of the Titanic, along with a number of the sunken ship’s lifeboats, crews from the White Star Line immediately set about sanding out the name Titanic from the bows of those boats. Lord (1955), 1987, p. 163.
Some airlines still do this: “Thai Airways Tries Logo Cover-up after A330-300 Skids Off Runway,” 2013, The Australian, September 10, at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/thai-airways-tries-logo-cover-up-after-a330-300-skids-off-runway/story-e6frg6so-1226715235550 (accessed September 19, 2013).
Jason Henry, a lifeguard: Scene reconstructed using DeJong; Henry; Herbek; photographs; white boards; Monseratte, Robert, Iowa Department of Public Safety, pers. comm., June–September 2013.Also, Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z.
“We found them together”: Monseratte, Robert, pers. comm., August 5, 2013.
Kingsbury died of: Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z, p. 26.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
MacIntosh and Benzon and Wizniak: Scene reconstructed using Benzon; Hilldrup; MacIntosh; Wizniak; Hilldrup, Frank, 1989, Structures Group Chairman’s Factual Report, October 10, Exhibit 7-A; Levy, Laura, 1989, Laser Transit Group Chairman’s Factual Report of Investigation, September 14, Exhibit 7-B; Phillips, Greg, 1989, Systems Group Chairman’s Factual Report of Investigation, September 15, Exhibit 9-A.
In November of 1973: File no. 1-0043, NTSB Aircraft Accident Report AAR-75-2, 1975, “Aircraft Accident Report, National Airlines, Inc. DC-10-10, N60NA near Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 3, 1973,” January 15, p. 12, available at www.ntsb.gov (accessed September 14, 2013).
When the DC-10 was being designed: AAR-90/06, p. 62; FAA Advisory Circular 25.1309-1, September 7, 1982, at http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/advisory_circulars/index.cfm/go/document.information/documentID/788801 (accessed September 19, 2013).
“a failure condition”: NTSB Transcript, p. 764.
one in a billion: NTSB Transcript, p. 764; FAA Advisory Circular 25.1309-1, p. 5.
was already known at that time: AAR-90/06, p. 68.
“Probable malfunctions must have only”: Starlof, William C., 1970, “Special Conditions for McDonnell Douglas Corporation Model DC-10 Airplane,” memorandum issued in Washington, D.C., January 15, p. 5, A39915-ADD6.tif, p. 16.
Captain D. B. Robinson of the Air Line Pilots Association: Letter from Robinson to James L. Kolstad, chairman of the NTSB, October 11, 1990, appended to an undated, unsigned, document entitled “Air Line Pilots Association Analysis and Recommendations Regarding United Flight 232 July 19, 1989, Sioux City, Iowa,” A39915-ADD5.tif, pp. 1441–1444.
In addition, the FAA had recommended shielding hydraulic lines: GE Comments, p. 70.
Now some two hundred people from various agencies: Quinlan, John, 1989, “Aerial Search to Resume Today,” Sioux City Journal, July 28, p. A:1:1.
“At NTSB hearings”: Rapoport, David E., and Michael L. Teich, 2011, “The Erosion of Secrecy in Air Disaster Litigation,” Issues in Aviation Law and Policy, vol. 10 (no. 2), pp. 231–249.
“The National Transportation Safety Board determines”: AAR-90/06, p. 102.
Jason Henry, the young lifeguard: Scene reconstructed using DeJong; Henry; Herbek; photographs; white boards; Monserrate, Robert, pers. comm., June–September 2013; Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z.
“Iowa Examiner Slow but Sure”: “Iowa Examiner Slow but Sure in Identification of Jet Victims,” Omaha World-Herald, 1989, July 22, p. 8.
Robert Monserrate of the DCI: Monserrate, Robert, pers. comm., July 11, 2013.
J. Kenneth Berkemier: Lindblade 1989.
“I know that he was very happy to learn”: Monserrate, Robert, pers. comm., August 6, 2013.
Ellen and Adrienne Badis were on their way home: Badis; Joan Wernick; Pete Wernick.
“Sure,” said Schemmel: Schemmel 1996, p. 32.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
John C. Clark, the senior performance engineer: Scene reconstructed using Benzon; Clark; Hilldrup; MacIntosh; Walker; Wizniak; Clark, John, 1989, Specialist’s Factual Report on Search for Fan Disk, September 18, Exhibit 16-A; Clark, John, and Jeremy Akel, 1989, Specialist’s Factual Report on Recorded Radar Data, September 18, Exhibit 16-B.
“And within ten minutes”: NTSB Transcript, p. 218.
they had killed 112: The NTSB rules state that a person must die within a month to be counted as a fatality from a crash. Dobson was killed by the crash but did not die within that month, so the official death toll was 111.
John Young, an investigator from the NTSB: Clark; Cookson. Also, Young 1989, Exhibit 11-A.
“their dead letter file”: NTSB Transcript, p. 635; Associated Press, 1989, “Plane Engine’s Records Examined,” Sioux City Journal, July 27, p. A:4:1.
records from that period of time at both ALCOA and GE: AAR-90/06, pp. 80–83.
seven others passed the tests: NTSB Transcript, pp. 516–521; AAR-90/06, pp. 51–55.
“Within the very first few days after this event”: The newspapers reported that the NTSB “recalled” the disks, but that wasn’t the case. See Associated Press, 1989, “NTSB Recalls DC-10 Fan Disc,” Sioux City Journal, July 30, p. A:1:5. The disks were returned to GE, per Wildey, James F., 1989. Metallurgist’s Factual Report 89-115, October 13, Exhibit 15-A; NTSB Transcript, pp. 260–261.
In the evenings, after MacIntosh had led the daily meeting: MacIntosh; NTSB Transcript, p. 261.
Bruce Benham, thirty-seven, and his young colleague Garry Priest: Scene reconstructed using Badis; Benham; Priest; Sheldon; Vetter; Joan Wernick; Pete Wernick; Will Wernick; also, interview of Vetter on The Today Show, July 20, 1989.
crash happened on Wednesday, July 19: Young 1989, Exhibit 11-A; General Electric Fan Disk Ultrasonic Inspection Records (undated), Exhibit 11-M; Ultrasonic Inspection Records. Second Disk Serial Number 00385 (undated), Exhibit 11-N; PB90-910406; AAR-90/06, pp. 41–61.
titanium can change its nature entirely: Donachie, 1988, pp. 40, 44–46.
Wildey traveled to Evendale to examine the disk: Rest of this section based on Cherolis; Wildey.
Ellen Badis, with Aaron freshly delivered into her arms: Scene reconstructed using Badis; Benham; Clapper; Gochenour; Schemmel 1996.
CHAPTER TWENTY
By the first week in August: Clark; Wizniak; Sanford, Harvey M., 1989, “GE Offers Farmers Rewards for Parts of United Engine,” Sioux City Journal, August 8, p. A:10:1; Schossow, Rebecca, 1989, “Reward Doesn’t Encourage Parts Search,” Sioux City Journal, August 30, p. A:5:2.
Steve Lullman, who worked at Mellowdent Hybrids: Green, Larry, 1989, “Reward Offer Fails to Spark Gold Rush of Engine-Part Searchers on Iowa Farms,” Los Angeles Times August 19, at http://articles.latimes.com/1989-08-19/news/mn-523_1_engine-failure (accessed July 14, 2013).
John Moehring from GE coordinated: Gary Brown; Harrington; and MacIntosh.
driver of the semi left on Wednesday: Associated Press, 1989, “NTSB Inspecting Engine,” Sioux City Journal, August 4, p. A:1:4.
“There are guards at the door”: NTSB Transcript, p. 274.
“We asked those people,” Glynn said: NTSB Transcript, p. 367.
latest high-tech spy planes: Gary Brown; Clark; Harrington; Swanstrom; Walker. Also, Clark 1989, Exhibit 16-A.
“We had a significant penetration”: NTSB Transcript, pp. 367–368.
To back that up, electron microscopy revealed traces: NTSB Transcript, pp. 371–382.
entire event took five to six milliseconds: NTSB Transcript, p. 399; GE Comments, p. 102.
harvest began: Clark, 1989, Exhibit 16-A, p. 6.
When Martha Conant first came out of the broken tail: Conant; Hatch;Dave and Susan Randa; Vetter.
Within two weeks after the crash: Scene reconstructed using Jan Brown; Clapper; Harrington; Swanstrom; Walker; along with photographs provided by Bendixen, Harrington, and the Iowa Department of Public Safety and video provided by Lindblade.
While Swanstrom and his people were cleaning: Hilldrup; MacIntosh; Phillips 1989, Exhibit 9-A.
They built a wooden disk: NTSB Transcript, p. 279.
In the meantime, the parts gathered by Gregory Phillips’s on-site team: Cherolis; Wildey. Also, Phillips 1989, Exhibit 9-A.
“The duct work for that engine shows scars”: Porter, Ed, 1989, “NTSB Tour Brings Culprit No. 2 Engine into Focus,” Sioux City Journal, July 22, p. A:9:1.
“FAA officials said”: “FAA: Jet Lost All Hydraulics,” 1989, Omaha World-Herald, July 20, p. 1.
metallurgist in his group, Joe Epperson: Epperson, Joe (undated), Metallurgist’s Factual Report 90-1, Exhibit No. 91, pp. 1–2.
“This accident was never supposed to”: Letter from Robinson to Kolstad, 1990.
“The FAA believes that requiring the use of CRS [child restraint seats]”: FAA response to NTSB Recommendation A-10-123, October 14, 2010.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
as the harvest proceeded: Zahren, Bill, 1989, “Farmers Harvesting Engine Parts,” Sioux City Journal, October 6, p. A:1:3.
Janice Sorenson, fifty-eight, was running her combine: Clark; Sorenson; Clark, John, 1989, Specialist’s Factual Report on Search for Fan Disk, October 19, Exhibit 16-A, Supplement 1; Zahren, Bill, 1989, “Alta Woman Discovers Part of 232 Fan Disk,” Sioux City Journal, October 11, p. A:1:6; Zahren, Bill, 1989, “Disk Harvester’s First Thoughts Go to Investigators,” Sioux City Journal, October 12, p. A:14:1; Schossow, Rebecca, 1989, “Search for DC-10 Parts to Intensify,” Sioux City Journal, October 14, p. A:1:2; “Searchers Make New Discoveries,” 1989, Sioux City Journal, October 23, p. A:1:1.
As soon as Jerome Clark phoned General Electric: Engine number one and three were placed in an adjacent secure room called Cell 9. Moehring said, “In essence, the cell ten and cell nine area, and for that matter, the laboratories, were, for all practical purposes, an out-post of . . . the NTSB officers, as were myself and all of the team.” NTSB Transcript, pp. 274–276.
pit, or cavity, was measured: GE Comments, p. 62.
first step was to use a brand new toothbrush: Cherolis; Cherolis, Nicholas E., 2008, “Fatigue in the Aerospace Industry: Striations,” Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention, vol. 8, pp. 255–258, DOI 10.1007/s11668-008-9146-5.
On Thursday, October 12, 1989: Clark; Zahren, Bill, and John Quinlan, 1989, “Investigators Find Crack in Fan Disc,” Sioux City Journal, October 13, p. A:1:1; Zahren, Bill, and John Quinlan, 1989, “Alta Farmer Receives Check for $116,000,” Sioux City Journal, October 13, p. A:1:1; Schossow, Rebecca, 1989, “Piece of Fan Blade Found in Metal Detectors Search,” Sioux City Journal, October 15, p. A:1:3.
Later that month, when asked under oath: NTSB Transcript, p. 242.
By Friday, the company had organized: Eddy; Schossow, 1989.
Employees from United Airlines took Susan White and Georgeann del Castillo: White; del Castillo, Georgeann, pers. comm., August 7, 2013.
“Smoke inhalation”: Diegel (undated), Exhibit 6-Z, p. 16.
Nicholas Edward Cherolis graduated: Brate; Cherolis; MacIntosh; Wildey. Also, Wildey, James F., 1989, Metallurgist’s Factual Report 90-2, October 24, Exhibit 15-D.
It compresses the metal near the surface: Lütjering and Williams 2003, p. 114.
“At all times prior to the inflight event”: United Airlines, 1990, United Airlines, Inc. Flight 232, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, N1819U, Sioux City, Iowa, July 19, 1989, p. 18, in file A39915-ADD5, p. 22.
“The Safety Board believes that at the time of manufacture”: AAR-90/06, p. 79.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Charles Martz, the ex-Navy fighter pilot: Martz; Martz 1989.
Working in the high-security laboratory at GE: This section reconstructed using Brate; Cherolis; MacIntosh; Wildey. Also, NTSB Transcript, pp. 295–326.
General Electric manufactured disk 00385: Young 1989, Exhibits 11-A, -B, and -C.
It was then installed on various engines over time: AAR-90/06, p. 15.
“The Public Hearing testimony”: MacIntosh, Robert M., pers. comm., January 26, 2013.
concerted effort was put into keeping the technician’s identity secret: Barrett; Cookson; Melhaff. Arthur Melhaff was the Foreman of Nondestructive Testing at United Airlines and as such, he was the boss of the man who performed the last fluorescent penetrant inspection of disk 00385. Melhaff told me the inspector’s name and Cookson confirmed it. Although I searched for him extensively, I was unable to find the inspector and saw no reason to publish his name unless he could speak for himself. Both Melhaff and Cookson believed that he had died.
In preparation for this step, . . . a technician . . . put the part: Cherolis, Nicholas E., pers. comm., July 20, 2013: “Last weekend I visited with Doug Pridemore who was my best buddy and who also re-read all of the fractographs I took to check my data and help us get an accurate number of striations. He also remembers that Ivan Miller was the operator of the SEM when we examined the fracture from flight 232. Today I called Ivan Miller who has been retired for a while and he is pretty sure it was him also.”
serviceable metal cast by TIMET in 1971: TIMET, “Certificate of Test, Chemical Analysis,” April 1, 1971, in Young 1989, Exhibit 11-L, p. 9.
Two priests dressed in the protective gear: Gunsolley, Bob, 1989, “Airport Crash Plan Far Exceeds Requirements,” Sioux City Journal, August 11, p. A:10:1.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
When a fatigue crack grows due to vibration: Cherolis; MacIntosh; Wildey; GE Comments, pp. 62, 78; Cherolis 2008.
by 1990, GE claimed that the electron beam: GE Comments, p. 78.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“The requirement on the transport airplanes”: NTSB Transcript, p. 749.
few examples of uncontained rotor bursts: AAR-90/06, pp. 69–70.
April 10, 1995: NTSB Safety Recommendation A-95-84 and -85, August 25, 1995, at: www.ntsb.gov/doclib/recletters/1995/A95_84_85.pdf (accessed February 2, 2013).
June 7, 2000: NTSB Safety Recommendation A-00-104, August 9, 2000, at www.ntsb.gov/doclib/recletters/2000/A00_104.pdf (accessed February 2, 2013).
“In addition to the separation of the fan disk”: AAR-90/06, p. 99.
Jim Burnett, the chairman and a staunch advocate: AAR-90/06, p. 108.
NTSB said that FPI is “inadequate”: NTSB Safety Recommendation A-00-104, 2000.
In 2007, you could buy a GE engine: Lironi, 2007, p. 85.
On the afternoon of the crash: Crain; Priest.
next day came up overcast for the prayer service: Prayer service reconstructed using Gary Brown; Jan Brown; Clapper; Crain; Lindblade; Priest; White; photographs provided by Crain and by Iowa Department of Public Safety. Additional detail and quotes are from Flight 232 One Year Later, a series of television programs presented by KTIV, Channel 4 News, July 1990.
It rained so hard that manhole covers: Sanford, Harvey M., 1990, “Gully-Washer Drenches City,” Sioux City Journal, July 20, p. A:1:1; Sanford, Harvey M., “Two Children Hurt When Water Sweeps Them under Parked Car,” Sioux City Journal, July 20, p. A:10:1.
Denny Fitch died of cancer in May of 2012: Fitch.
EPILOGUE
Will Wernick, who was not quite seven years old: Except where noted, the people involved told me their stories for the epilogue.
Al Haynes, who saved the aircraft: Haynes; Associated Press, 1989. “Flight 232 Pilot to Resume Duties without Any Fanfare,” Sioux City Journal, October 29, p. A:16:1.
The investigators from the NTSB: Benzon.
Within months of the crash: Cherolis; Wildey.
The dead from United Airlines Flight 232: Kraemer; Monserrate, Robert, pers. comm., September 18, 2013.
One day when Sabrina Lee Michaelson: Both Jerry Schemmel and I tried to contact the Michaelson family on numerous occasions without success. The material about Sabrina came from a Facebook page in memory of her that appeared here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/24325251317/?ref=ts&fref=ts (accessed June 1, 2013). Her posting at age twelve appeared here: http://mydeathspace.com/vb/showthread.php?10429-Sabrina-L-Michaelson (accessed June 1, 2013). Photographs of her grave appear here: http://billiongraves.com/pages/record/SabrinaLeeMichaelson/1935223 (accessed June 1, 2013).
Rene Le Beau was thrown from the plane: Jan Brown; photograph.
last scheduled airline flight of a DC-10: Thornton, Paul, 2007, “A Final Flight into the History Books,” Los Angeles Times, January 7, at http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jan/07/opinion/op-thornton7 (accessed September 20, 2013). See also Biman Bangladesh Airlines press release dated November 13, 2013, here: http://www.biman-airlines.com/about/news?id=46e17663-312b-46ba-93d6-3d7e508f36b8 (accessed December 18, 2013).
On June 18, 1990, a healthy baby boy: Tsao, Jeffrey Y., 1991, “A Tragedy in Sioux City,” Parents Magazine, September, pp. 102–106.