Chilling final word of American Airlines pilot before plane crashed killing 273 on board

American Airlines Flight 191 was set to fly from Chicago to Los Angeles, but the routine journey ended in a tragic disaster

It was an ordinary day at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport - and the routine domestic flight to Los Angeles was prepared to depart as scheduled.

Carrying 258 passengers alongside 13 crew members, American Airlines Flight 191 enjoyed perfect conditions on the bright May afternoon.

However, mere moments after the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10's landing gear lifted off the tarmac, disaster struck. It comes after we revealed a pilot's chilling last words as he let his children fly the plane before it crashed.

The port engine had torn away from the left wing, somersaulted through the air and slammed onto the runway with devastating force.

As the powerplant was violently ripped from the aircraft, it severed multiple hydraulic lines that maintained the wing's leading-edge slats in position, reports the Mirror.

The plane crashed on takeoff from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago (Image: AP)

Approximately three feet of the left wing sustained severe damage and as the aircraft began its ascent into the sky, still operating at maximum takeoff power, it banked terrifyingly.

The flight crew lost complete command of the massive airliner and were powerless to stop the looming catastrophe.

The aircraft had now tilted dangerously to the left and was partly inverted before crashing back down to earth in a field near the runway's end.

All 273 souls aboard perished immediately.

The last utterance captured on the cockpit voice recorder as pilots heard a thunderous explosion following the engine separation and impact was "damn".

Two weeks following the disaster - remains America's deadliest aviation tragedy - the DC-10-10 fleet was banned worldwide.

The aircraft's fundamental design was subsequently exonerated of any responsibility for the catastrophe. Instead, it was suspected that a flawed maintenance procedure during a previous engine replacement led to the damage that resulted in the left front engine detaching from the aircraft.

American Airlines was slapped with a $500,000 fine, which would equate to around $1.4 million in today's money.

This article was published by the Daily Express US.