AMERICAN AIRLINES
(USA)

American Airlines, the airline which sponsored the development of the DC-10, went through all successes and failures of the DC-10, marking the lowest point of the DC-10's history: The crash of AA 191 (46510/ 22) on May 25th 1979 which caused 273 fatalities. Although American Airlines was neither a costumer for the DC-8 nor for the DC-9, the long-time relation between American and Douglas has since ever been excellent, especially as American sposored also the development of the DC-3 and the DC-7. AA was the first to recognize that the 747 was far too large to serve all main routes and that an aircraft larger than the DC-8/707 was needed, so they asked Lockheed and Douglas for an airliner in this cathegory. It was hard to convince American that a three-engined airliner would fit better in the needs of American Airlines as well as in those of the other large US-carriers. Douglas (later Mc Donnell - Douglas) worked several years together on this project until two variants, the DC-10 A and the -B were the results of that effort. Launching an aircraft between the -A and the -B, AA defined the size of the DC-10 as we know it today. The order for 25 DC-10-10 + 25 options, the first for the new Douglas Commercial, was placed on February 19th 1968 and all but fifteen optional aircraft were taken up. Ship #5, was delivered on July 29th 1971 together with United's first aircraft and only seven days later, on August 5th, this aircraft made the first DC-10 flight from Los Angeles to Chicago. The first DC-10 accident ever happened, the opening of a cargo door over Windsor, Ontario which ended in a lucky emergency landing, was the beginning of a media battle againts the DC-10 which also affected American Airlines and later culminated in the absurdity of a five-week-grounding after the Chicago accident. That was no reason to loose confidence in the DC-10 after all and AA also added more DC-10s to its fleet, including the whole fleet from National Airlines (which became surplus for Pan Am), some other DC-10-10s from different sources, for example Western Air Lines, and a small fleet of DC-10-30s (mainly from Air New Zealand) for American's first intercontinental flights. After N110AA, two DC-10-30s were lost in smaller accidents without casualties, but nethertheless, the DC-10 has been more than a workhorse for American Airlines: It was their flagship for over 20 years and it was the aircraft which enabled American Airlines to inaugurate flights over the atlantic ocean. American's last DC-10 service took place on November 21st 2000 and was operated by the former KLM aircraft #91 (N143AA). The DC-10 was the aircraft which made American Airlines what it is today: The world's second largest airline and the world's second largest DC-10 operator of all times. Now, all AA DC-10s have been withdrawn from use and sold to FedEx, but the Mc Donnell - Douglas DC-10 will ever be one of the most important chapters in the history of American Airlines.

Photos:
Upper right: Nose of an 46938/ 153, San Juan/Puerto Rico, 1998 - BY JOE PRIES
Left: American Airlines DC-10, Mexico City, 1980 - BY JORGE ROCAFORT
Lower right: Tail of an AA DC-10 - BY BILL PAULSEN

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