The most watched air disaster in American history | The Chicago crash | AA flight 191 DC-10 crash at Chicago AA 191 was a commercial flight operated by American Airlines that crashed on May 25, 1979, in Des Plaines, Illinois, shortly after takeoff from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. The flight was en route to Los Angeles, California, with 271 passengers and crew members on board. The cause of the crash was determined to be a mechanical failure in the left engine of the McDonnell Dougla