American Airlines Flight 96 was a scheduled flight from Los Angeles to New York via Detroit and Buffalo on June 12th 1972. It was operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft. The aircraft made a complex but successful landing after it lost its rear cargo door and experienced control damage. Unfortunately, the same incident on a later flight was much worse.
DC-10 losing its cargo door
American Airlines Flight 96 left Los Angeles without incident, flying as planned to Detroit. On June 12th 1972, it was operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft, with registration N103AA. This aircraft had recently been delivered new to American Airlines, in July 1971.
The accident occurred after departure from Detroit. The flight left Detroit at 19:20 local time, carrying 59 passengers and 11 crew members. Five minutes after departure, at an altitude just under 12,000 feet and near the town of Windsor, Ontario, the crew reported hearing a loud noise and experiencing a “fog” in the cabin.
The left rear cargo door had blown open and broken off the aircraft. This caused the floor at the rear of the passenger compartment to partially collapse and for the cabin to rapidly decompress. The oxygen masks did not deploy as the aircraft was below the required altitude.
The issue was with the externally opening cargo door latches. Photo: Getty Images
Damage to the aircraft
The pilots immediately declared an emergency and started a return to Detroit. They later reported how they initially thought they had experienced a mid-air collision, with the loud bang and dust experienced in the cockpit. After flight attendants reported the damage at the rear of the passenger cabin, it became more clear what the problem was.
It also quickly became apparent that the incident had damaged aircraft controls. Immediately after the rupture, the rudder jammed to the far right, and the engine controls moved to idle. Several control cables had been…