Alfred C. Haynes, who credited luck for what others described as the miraculous landing of a crippled McDonnell Douglas DC-10 at a municipal airport in Iowa, has died at age 87.
Haynes died Aug. 25 at a hospital in the Seattle area.
Haynes in 2008
On July 19, 1989, Haynes was captain of United Flight 232, which suffered the catastrophic failure of its no. 2 tail-mounted engine while cruising at Flight Level 370 (approximately 37,000 feet) en route from Denver to Chicago. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the “separation, fragmentation and forceful discharge” of parts of the engine’s fan rotor destroyed the DC-10’s three hydraulic flight control systems and cut away a large s…
