According to a National Transportation Safety Board accident report, all 258 passengers and 13 crew members aboard American Airlines Flight 191 died when the DC-10 plane crashed on May 25, 1979. Two men on the ground were also killed.
Forty years later, the crash of Flight 191 remains the deadliest passenger airline accident on U.S. soil.
Those are the statistics, but we wanted to learn more about the people whose lives were lost that day. So we asked family members and friends to share their recollections.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PROJECT
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE VICTIMS
My role
Though the Chicago Tribune archives include photos of the crash scene and the efforts to provide last rites to and identification of the victims, there were few photos found of the victims. I did not want them to be forgotten.
In an effort to bring awareness to this disaster and to those who died, I asked family members and friends to provide photos and memories of their lost loved ones.
I heard from more than 60 people whose emailed recollections and photos were posted in this virtual memorial. I also combed Newspapers.com to find obituaries, funeral information and other ephemera documenting the flight’s victims. A memorial to these victims was dedicated in 2011 at Lake Park in Des Plaines, less than two miles east of the crash site, and I worked with its caretakers to contact family members still living in the area.
Whenever someone with a connection to a victim of Flight 191 contacts me, I update this project.
This project won the “Best Business or Consumer Reporting” category in the 2019 Peter Lisagor Awards presented by the Chicago Headline Club.
Kori Rumore 