American Airlines MX......where have we seen this before? I guess what's old, is new again.
"Maintenance personnel were pressured fo deviate from maintenance procedures.......mechanics have received pressure from supervisory personnel to 'shortcut' maintenance procedures."
AA191, DC-10, 1979. McDonnell Douglas company DC-10 maintenance procedures for engine changes of the wing mounted engines on the DC-10 stated to specifically remove the engine from the wing pylon, then remove the wing pylon from the wing, if pylon removal was required. This procedure was specifically stated this way due to potential damage to the pylon-to-wing retention lugs/bolts and the mounts they were installed into, that could result unseen, by using any other method than the directed one. AA believed that the McD directed method was too time consuming, so they came up with their own procedure to remove the engine and pylon together as a singular unit, using a forklift and simply remove the pylon from the wing, saving some hours of time. In reinstaling the #1 engine on the DC-10 that later became flight 191, AA had unknowningly damaged the pylon-to-wing connection area while lifting the engine/pylon assembly back into place with a forklift, again, against McD directives. AA191, on departure from ORD some time later, had the #1 engine separate on takeoff at the pylon mount, with the engine going over the top of the wing and, unknown to the crew, damaging leading edge lift devices, causing the aircraft to enter a roll that could not be controlled, and crash a few miles from the runway, killing all 273 aboard. To date, the deadliest accident in US history.
