Captain Al Haynes, considered by many to be the hero of United flight 232, has passed away aged 87 in Seattle on Sunday 25th August.
Captain Haynes was the pilot in command on Flight 232 from Denver to Chicago on the 19th July 1980. During the flight, the DC10 suffered an uncontained engine failure in its tail engine which severed the hydraulic lines making the aircraft uncontrollable.
Despite this, Captain Haynes, assisted by First Officer Will Record, Second Officer Dudley Dvorak and Training Captain Dennis Fitch, managed to guide the aircraft into Sioux City, Iowa by alternating engine power to turn, climb and descend.
When offered any runway by Sioux City Air Traffic Control, Al Haynes famously said: “You want to be particular and make it a runway, huh?”
The aircraft crashed on landing at Sioux City but Haynes and the rest of the crew were hailed heroes as there were 185 survivors, a number which would have been unlikely had the crew not made it to an airport.
The entire crew was cited by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for preventing a greater loss of life.
The whole crash landing was streamed live on TV at the time and remains one of the most-watched aviation videos of all time.
Captain Alfred ‘Al’ Clair Haynes was inducted on the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum Wall of Honour as an Air and Space friend.
<div class="videoWrapper">
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dCTrs9mKmhc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>