Remembering Flight 191

Victims are marked with numbered flags for identification as emergency workers sift through debris from American Airlines Flight 191 that crashed after take off from O’Hare International Airport on May 25, 1979.

A firefighter walks through the destruction at the crash site for American Airlines Flight 191 on May 25, 1979, near O’Hare International Airport. Flags mark where they found victims remains.

Emergency workers sift through debris from American Airlines Flight 191 on May 26, 1979.

Beneath the smoke lie fragments of the American Airlines Flight 191 jetliner that crashed and exploded on May 25, 1979, shortly after taking off from O’Hare International Airport. All aboard perished.

On impact, the DC-10 airplane, which was carrying 60 tons of fuel, blew up, and pieces of it flew in all directions. A landing gear assembly was one of the few things left intact on May 25, 1979.

A policeman keeps a vigil beside a squadrol holding body bags at the American Airlines Flight 191 crash site on May 25, 1979.

A DC-10 engine lies on the grass just east of runway 32 where it stopped after falling from Flight 191 just as the plane rotated away from the runway. Investigators are examining the engine on May 26, 1979, while lift equipment stands by to remove the engine.

Chicago’s Mayor Jane Byrne, center, visits the crash site of American Airlines Flight 191 on May 25, 1979.

The remains of the victims of America’s worst air disaster were gathered in a temporary morgue at the north end of O’Hare International Airpot on May 27, 1979. Dozens of medical and dental experts from throughout the nation were at work in the American Airlines hanger. Refrigerated trucks were stationed outside.

A man mourns at an ecumenical memorial service held on May 28, 1979, for the victims of the Flight 191 air tragedy. More than 1,300 people attended the ceremony at Mary Seat of Wisdom Church in Park Ridge.

Mourners gather at a memorial service for the victims of the nation’s worst aviation disaster at Mary Seat of Wisdom Church in Park Ridge, Ill., May 29, 1979. Over 1,000 persons attended the service for the 273 which died in last Friday’s plane crash. (AP Photo/Larry Stoddard)  (Larry Stoddard / AP)

Mourners cry over the coffin of one of the 30 unidentified victims of the nation’s worst aviation disaster in San Pedro, Calif., July 6, 1979, at the Green Hills Memorial Park, as another brings a flag. Catholic, Jewish and Protestant clergymen officiated the services for victims of the May 25 crash of an American Airlines DC-10 near Chicago. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)  (Nick Ut / AP)

Elwood Driver of NTSB shows the nut and bolt that broke on American Airlines flight 191 causing the engine to fall from the DC-10, May 27, 1979. Driver was holding a press conference at the Sheraton O’Hare Hotel.

William Shaefer, senior director of quality assurance for American Airlines, talks with a group of people next to the engine that fell off the plane on American Airlines Flight 191, May 27, 1979.

The National Transportation Board held public hearings at the Sheraton O’Hare Hotel on July 30, 1979, concerning the American Airlines Flight 191 crash at O’Hare Airport on May 25, 1979. American Airlines executives, including Donald J. Lloyd Jones, were at the hearing.

To mark the 25th anniversary for the American Airlines Flight 191 crash, relatives met at O’Hare International Airport and then took buses to the crash site, shown here on May 25, 2004.

Michael Lux, center, listens to Melody Smith, left, as she talks to the media on May 25, 2004, about the death of her parents, Corrinne and Bill Borchers, in the American Airlines Flight 191 crash 25 years prior. Lux’s father, Walter, was the pilot of the aircraft. Kim Borchers Jockl, Smiths’ sister, stands between them.

Relatives of the people who were killed on American Airlines Flight 191 visit the crash site on May 25, 2004. It was the 25th anniversary since Flight 191 to Los Angeles crashed in a field shortly after taking off from O’Hare.