How do you fly and land a plane with no hydraulics? It’s certainly a question that I can’t answer, as I’m not a trained pilot. And it’s clear that even well-trained pilots need all the help they can get in a situation like this. But this is the exact scenario the pilots aboard flight 232 faced on July 19, 1989. The plane was a DC-10. Originating in Denver, it was on its way to Philadelphia. They had just lost the number 2 engine, which resides on the tail of the plane. It was a situation they had never even trained for, as it wasn’t even in the training manual. These pilots soon found themselves in uncharted waters—or skies, to be more apt. They found the steering from the control wheel to be unresponsive and, regardless of their inputs, the plane was continually drifting to the right. The severity of the situation is illustrated in this: without hydraulics there are no ordinary means of controlling a flight—elevators, ailerons, and rudder are all rendered useless. The only means left for controlling the flight are the two remaining engines, on the wings. And these were the very means they would use to divert the flight to a cornfield in Iowa.
Immediately following the loss of engine 2, Records, the first officer, exclaims, “Al, I can’t control the plane”. Haynes the Captain, takes command of his ship and responds, “I’ve got it.” The Captain intuitively responds by throttling back engine 1 (on the left side of the plane) and powering up engine 3 (on the right side of the plane). This action forced the plane back to the left and towards level flight by causing the air to flow slightly faster over the right wing. The plane had been saved—for now—from what would have been an unrecoverable right bank ending in the plane spiraling towards the earth. Now level, the pilots had to find the right combination of power between engines 1 and 3 that would not only keep the flight level, but also at an operable speed. Something like dancing on a razor’s edge—it was like learning to fly all over again. The Captain later recalls, “I felt intuitively that I was becoming one with the airplane. I felt like it was sending me signals about what it was going to do before it did it.” He didn’t know what caused him to use the throttles, because there was nothing in his training to suggest that action.
As it so happens, there was a DC-10 flight instructor on this same flight, Dennis Fitch. He had finished his work week at the United training facility and was on his way home for the weekend. Earlier, he had chatted with the flight attendant, Jane Murray, while she served him his meal. Soon following the events happening that left this plane in a near hopeless situation, the facts were relayed to her by the pilots in the cockpit. The look of horror on her face became obvious to Fitch as she walked by. Reaching out to stop her as she passed, he tried to reassure her, “Don’t worry about this. This thing flies fine on two engines”. She then responded, whispering, “The captain told us we have lost all our hydraulics”. Fitch exclaimed the impossibility of all this, but the flight attendant confirmed to him that this was the case. He then told her to notify the captain that there is a DC-10 flight instructor on board offering assistance, if needed. These pilots, in dire straits, didn’t hesitate to respond by inviting him in.
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Soon, Fitch was at the controls managing power between the two remaining engines. What follows, time and space don’t afford me the opportunity to tell—not completely. But what I wish could have culminated in a fairy tale ending, didn’t. However, it is certain that what did happen could have been much worse. Out of the 296 souls on board, 185 survived. Given the situation, that’s remarkable. Some would say, even miraculous. Were the Captain’s “instincts” to respond the way he did just coincidence? Was the fact that Fitch, the flight instructor, was on board a coincidence? Some might say so. But I disagree. I think these things happen sometimes because we are being helped by something outside of ourselves…..because we need help from someone outside of ourselves.