On November 3, 1973, a National Airlines DC-10 aircraft was operating as a scheduled passenger flight between Miami and San Francisco with intermediate stops at New Orleans, Houston and Las Vegas.
At about 4:40 p.m., while the aircraft was cruising at 39,000 feet (12,000 m) 65 miles southwest of Albuquerque, the No. 3 engine fan assembly disintegrated in an uncountained failure. Its fragments penetrated the fuselage, the Nos. 1 and 2 engine nacelles (which contain those engines), and the right wing area. The resultant damage caused decompression of the aircraft cabin and the loss of certain electrical and hydraulic systems.
The flight crew initiated an emergency descent, and the aircraft was landed safely at Albuquerque International Airport 19 minutes after the engine failed. The 115 passengers and 12 crew members exited the aircraft by using the evacuation slides. As a result of the accident, one passenger died and 24 persons were treated for smoke inhalation, ear problems, and minor abrasions. The plane was repaired and was later flown by Pan Am.
One passenger, G.F. Gardner of Beaumont, Texas, was partially sucked into an opening left when a cabin window failed, after it too was struck by engine fragments. He was temporarily retained in that position by his seatbelt. "Efforts to pull the passenger back into the airplane by another passenger were unsuccessful, and the occupant of seat 17H was forced entirely through the cabin window." The New Mexico State Police and local organizations searched extensively for the missing passenger. A computer analysis was made of the possible falling trajectories, which narrowed the search pattern. However, the search effort was unsuccessful, and the body of the passenger was not recovered until two years later, when a crew constructing tracks for the Very Large Array radio telescope came upon his skeletal remains. So keeping your seatbelts buckled on during a flight, really can save your life, keep that in mind next time you fly!
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