I was on a United DC-10 out of San Francisco in early January 1990 (six months after this) when the rear engine had a similar (although much less catastrophic) failure. First, there was an odd whiff of smoke, then the airplane rattled like an off balance washing machine, and then the rear engine did the equivalent of throwing a rod – went off balance and failed completely. Two loud bangs and you could feel the airplane torque under your ass.
I was sitting by the FA’s jump seat and I’ve never – before or since – seen an FA that nervous. Absolutely rock calm in manner, though. Immediately – I suppose were out over Stockton or so – the plane started dumping fuel as fast as it could. This was a fully loaded flight to Boston and they weren’t going to just burn off fuel, as is ordinary in situations where a return is mandated, but just drain as much as they could.
Anyway, back to SFO without incident, but when we landed, the plane bottomed as far down as it could go on the gear. Felt like it in the ground, but of course it didn’t. After about six more hours, they found us a new plane and when they finally got us back in the air they asked us if there was anything they could do for us – 100 people shouted “Free Drinks!”
But it was United, so no free drinks.
