On May 25, 1979, American Airlines Flight 191 lifted off from Chicago O’Hare bound for Los Angeles — and never made it out of the city. Just seconds after takeoff, the aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, suffered a catastrophic failure when its left engine tore away from the wing, ripping through critical hydraulic systems. With key instruments disabled and the slats on one wing retracted while the other remained extended, the plane became impossible to control. At only about 325 feet in the ai