Schaumburg Live Work & Play

AP file photo Aerial view of Sioux City, Ia., airport July 19, 1989, after United Flight 232 crashed and skidded into a nearby cornfield. Miller firmly believes he would have lived, even if he had sat in “20-something” B rather than 16G. He believes he was supposed to take that plane; end up dangling upside down in an overturned, flaming cabin fragment that cartwheeled three times and skidded nearly a mile through Sioux City cornstalks; and walk off the plane without a scratch or hair out of place, clutching his Bible and notes for his grandfather’s eulogy. The explosion The morning of the crash was hectic, as Miller coordinated travel plans with various members of his large Italian family, and then had to revise those plans on the run after missing his first flight to Chicago. Once he boarded the plane, though, he relaxed. For the first hour or so of the flight, Miller thumbed through his Bible, choosing passages for the eulogy he planned to deliver the next day. He ate his lunch, then ate a second lunch offered by the father of a sleeping boy seated next to him. In its investigation into the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board would call the first 67 minutes of the flight “uneventful.” Then the jet’s tail engine exploded. The explosion sounded like a bomb. The plane shuddered violently, and the right wing dipped precipitously. Flying engine fragments had shredded all three hydraulic systems, making the craft nearly impossible to steer left, right, up or down. The pilots had never trained for this scenario, which, they were told, was a statistical impossibility. Over the loudspeaker, the second officer advised the passengers that the jet had lost an engine, and they should expect a delay getting to Chicago. To the untrained eye, the plane appeared to stabilize. Miller returned to his book. The crash “We’re not gonna make the runway, fellas,” Captain Alfred Haynes told his crew at about 3:30, 15 minutes after the engine blew. Miller continued to read his book, though he thought the plane sounded a little funny. Some veteran fliers tried to calm the more nervous passengers, assuring them the jet could manage just fine on the remaining two wing engines. The problem, though, was the steering, not the engines. The only way to turn the plane was to rev one wing engine, then the other. september/october 2008 Page 21

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Schaumburg Live Work & Play

Schaumber Live Work & Play Contents Hidden Treasures Slice of Life Handling Work Life Featured Business Surviving United Flight 232 Succulent Flavors Out & About Around Town Hot Spot! Dining Out

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.