A DC-10 jet crashes into a forest outside of Paris, France,
killing all 346 people on board, on this day in 1974. The poor
design of the plane, as well as negligent maintenance,
contributed to the disaster. Nearly two years earlier, on June
6, 1972, an American Airlines DC-10 was flying over Ontario,
Canada, when its rear-hatch door blew off and tore a hole in the
fuselage. The plane's cabin lost pressure and the cabin floor
collapsed. Clouds of dust and bits of metal filled the plane's
interior and some key cables were severed. Still, the pilot was
able to get the jet under control and managed to safely land the
plane in Detroit. Later, it was determined that the latching
mechanism on the door was designed poorly, leading to the
catastrophe. Modifications to the mechanism were recommended,
but no systematic recall system was undertaken to implement the
modifications. In fact, new DC-10s came off the assembly line
with the old latching mechanism. One of these planes was sold to
Turkish Airlines, which put the