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→Accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft: Added section on system mechanical failures, added the 737 hard over events, and the Alaska 261 horizontal stab failure accident. Also reordered by date. |
→Controls damaged by structural failure: added to 587. |
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*[[American Airlines Flight 191]], a [[McDonnell Douglas DC-10]], on 25 May 1979. The failure of the #1 engine mounting pylon and subsequent separation of the engine from the aircraft resulted in severed hydraulic lines and electrical system damage. The left wing [[Leading-edge slat|slats]] retracted due to the loss of hydraulic pressure and aerodynamic forces, while the right wing slats remained extended. The damaged electrical system prevented the slat retract indicators and [[stick-shaker]] on the [[yoke]] from functioning, so the crew was not alerted to the slat retraction nor impending stall. All 271 on board were killed, as well as two on the ground at [[O'Hare International Airport]] in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]].
*[[Japan Airlines Flight 123]], a [[Boeing 747]], on 12 August 1985. A faulty repair years earlier had weakened the aircraft's rear pressure bulkhead, which failed in flight. The [[vertical stabilizer]] and much of the aircraft's [[empennage]] was blown off during the decompression. The decompression also ruptured all four hydraulic lines which controlled the aircraft's mechanical flight controls. The pilots were able to continue flying the aircraft with very limited control, but after 32 minutes the aircraft crashed into a mountain, killing 520 of the 524 people aboard in the deadliest single aircraft disaster in history.<ref>Gero 1997, p. 189.</ref>
*[[American Airlines Flight 587]], [[Airbus A300]], November 12, 2001. This was the second-deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history, with 251 passengers and 9 crew members killed, as well as five people on the ground. According to the NTSB, the aggressive use of the rudder controls by the first officer stressed the composite vertical stabilizer until it separated from the aircraft. The complete loss of the vertical stabilizer meant the loss of all rudder control. As the pilots struggled to control the aircraft, it entered a flat spin. The resultant forces caused the engines to separate from the aircraft, and it slammed into the ground 14 seconds later.
*[[Air Transat Flight 961]], an [[Airbus A310]], on 6 March 2005, catastrophic structural failure: the rudder detached from the aircraft with a loud bang and the aircraft began a [[dutch roll]]. The pilots regained enough control, albeit with difficulty on controlling the aircraft laterally, to land the aircraft safely at Varadero-Juan Gualberto Gomez Airport.<ref>[http://www.bst.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/aviation/2005/a05f0047/a05f0047.pdf Flight 961 – Official accident report]. www.bst.gc.ca Retrieved: 1 June 2010</ref>
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