American Airlines Flight 96 - Definition and Overview

American Airlines Flight 96 was a regular DC-10 commuter flight operated by American Airlines, with a scheduled route from Detroit, Michigan to Toronto, Ontario.

The flight is notable because it suffered a cargo door blow-out on 12 June 1972. Although the aircraft was severely damaged, the crew made a successful emergency landing at Buffalo, New York and all persons on board evacuated safely.

This accident highlighted a serious design flaw in the cargo doors of DC-10 aircraft. However, the fault was not satisfactorily repaired, and a subsequent cargo door blow-out occurred in another DC-10 two years later (Turkish Airlines Flight 981), killing all 346 on board. At the time it was the worst aviation disaster in history.

Many commentators subsequently blamed the aircraft manufacturer, McDonnell Douglas, and other aviation authorities, for failing to recognise the warning signs from the 'Flight 96' incident and redesigning the cargo door system (although there had been some redesign of the system, it had been implemented voluntarily and haphazardly by various airlines). If the warning signs of 'Flight 96' had been heeded, the latter disaster may have been avoided.