[DrJ]

In a devastating incident on March 3, 1974, Turkish Airlines Flight 981 met a catastrophic fate, leaving no survivors and raising critical questions about aircraft safety and maintenance. The flight, operating a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 aircraft, took off from Istanbul's Yesilköy International Airport with 334 passengers and 12 crew members on board, bound for London Heathrow Airport via a stopover at Paris Orly Airport.

The flight had a tumultuous start. Upon landing at Paris-Orly at 11:02 AM, 50 passengers disembarked, and the aircraft underwent refueling and baggage loading. The turnaround time of one hour was extended by 30 minutes due to unforeseen delays. An additional 216 passengers boarded the aircraft, many of whom had chosen this flight due to a strike at British Airways.

At approximately 12:30 PM, the aircraft took off, initially climbing to FL60, and later reaching FL230. Tragically, just seconds before 12:40 PM, a loud decompression noise shook the aircraft, prompting the co-pilot's alarm: "the fuselage has burst!" The source of this catastrophic event was the sudden opening and separation of the aft left-hand cargo door, resulting in explosive decompression.

The consequences were dire. The pressure difference between the cargo bay and passenger cabin caused the floor above the cargo door to partially collapse, leading to the ejection of two occupied triple seat units. Additionally, critical control cables beneath the aircraft's floor were severely disrupted, rendering the no. 2 engine nearly powerless. The aircraft veered left, pitched downward, and accelerated, ultimately crashing into the Ermenonville Forest, 37 kilometers northeast of Paris.

The impact was devastating, disintegrating the aircraft into thousands of pieces, with few large components remaining intact. Post-crash fires were limited due to the fragmented wreckage. Tragically, of the 346 passengers and crew members, only 40 bodies could be visually identified, and rescue teams had to recover approximately 20,000 body fragments. Nine passengers remained unidentified.

The root cause of this tragic event lay in the incorrect engagement of the door latching mechanism before takeoff. A design flaw allowed the cargo door to appear closed and locked when, in reality, the latches were not fully secured, and the lock pins were not in place. Even though a view port was provided for visual checks, these inspections were rendered difficult by the view port's inadequate diameter.

Several factors contributed to this defective door closing, including incomplete application of Service Bulletin 52-37, incorrect modifications and adjustments, and the absence of visual inspection during the stop at Orly. Furthermore, inadequate pressure relief vents between the cargo compartment and passenger cabin, combined with the routing of all flight control cables beneath the floor, posed a grave danger in the event of sudden depressurization.

[Bletch]

Great post. Horrible crash and a traumatic experience for the rescue workers. Not a body intact.

[vamptay]

Wow

[durt]

This is the first incident that's referred to as the 'Windsor incident'

"American Airlines Flight 96 was a regular McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 flight operated by American Airlines. On June 12, 1972, the aircraft's rear cargo door blew off while flying over Windsor, Ontario, en route from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport to Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

More details:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americ...ines_Flight_96

[estell2010]

Wow! 500 MPH impact, pulverized, brutal...
Thank you, great post!

[Dodecahedron]

And people can’t understand United 93???

[Ninjavandal]

Freaking horrible!

[William May]

They said that some of the passengers were traveling under fake names, thus the inability to identify them. (Mistresses, or men who had mistresses on board with them)

[Bletch]

The seat that’s were ejected was occupied by Japanese still strapped in their seats that wee found in a field nearby.

[Stevieaitch]

Proper shredded. Bit of a buff with aircrashes and this is one site id like to visit. Fuckers were in the trees too. Death wasnt instant. The plane scythed through the trees. The tree trunks ripped the wings and fuselage to pieces. Passengers would have seen this horrifically loud shredding coming towards them inside the cabin as it torpedoed through the forest.