Image of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. (Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons)
In October 1989, Iowa farmer Janice Sorenson discovered a titanium fan disk from the engine of United Airlines Flight 232. The discovery brought her and her husband, Dale Sorenson, a $116,000 reward from the General Electric Company, which had offered money for missing engine components following the aircraft’s fatal crash in Sioux City, Iowa, on 19 July 1989. General Electric had offered a total of $271,000 for the return of missing engine components, including the long-sought fan disk itself. about 10 miles north of Alta, Janice struck the component with her harvesting combine While working on her family’s working farm. On 23 October 1989, TIME reported that a crack was found by metallurgists who inspected the component, and it seemed to have been there since the start.
The disk was an integral part of the evidence because investigators had suspected the aircraft’s engine failure severed its hydraulic control lines, according to The New York Times. The breakthrough for Sorensons came after months of searching led by farmers and investigators surrounding the countryside for missing engine parts. The discovery on the Sorensons’ farm The engine evidence and the family’s plans The examination of the disk led to a finding that would shed light on a possible mechanical cause of the engine failure.
The existence of this crack before the explosion might have triggered the plane crash; however, this was a preliminary investigative finding and not a definitive conclusion.
