| “ | You want to be particular in making a runway? | „ |
| ~ Haynes after being cleared to land on any runway. |
Alfred Clair "Al" Haynes was the protagonist of the 1992 disaster film A Thousand Heroes. He was portrayed by the late Charlton Heston, who also portrayed El Cid, Judah Ben-Hur, Michelangelo Buonarroti, and Moses.
As a senior pilot for United Airlines, on July 19, 1989 he and his crew took off from Denver to head to Chicago and then on to Philadelphia. For a while United's Flight 232 seemed routine until the DC-10 jolted and a loud bang was heard. The crew found they had lost hydraulics and had little control of the plane. Declaring an emergency Haynes learned the nearest airport was in Sioux City, Iowa.
Without hydraulics Haynes found he was unable to steer the plane through normal methods, but he and his crew did have limited control by adjusting thrust on each engine. He worked with control to get the plane safely down, but on final approach Haynes realized they were still coming in too fast and at a bad angle, and it was too late to do anything. The plane impacted on the runway surface flipping over and winding up in a neighboring cornfield.
While the plane had crashed, Haynes had acted in a way that enabled a fair number of the passengers and crew to survive. Following the accident Haynes was rescued and taken to a local hospital, where he met with one of the controllers. United programmed a simulator in Denver with his flight, and found that none of the senior pilots who went through the scenario got anywhere close to the airport - crashing at least 10 miles from the airport.
After being released from the hospital, Haynes boarded a small jet that took him back home, thankful to the people of Sioux City for being there for him and those on 232.
Trivia[]
- Haynes was based on the real life Al Haynes (1931–2019). The real Haynes was praised for his actions in the crisis. While 112 people had died, 184 people survived, which was credited to Haynes's piloting skills.
- After recovering Haynes returned to active duty with United, and continued to fly for the next two years until reaching the mandatory Federal retirement age [1]. His last flight was from Denver to Seattle. Haynes was joined on the flight by a number of other survivors from 232. In retirement he acted as an umpire for Little League games, and as an announcer for high school sports. Haynes passed away on August 25, 2019 after a brief illness. This was 30 years and 37 days after the crash, and six days before his 88th birthday.
- The real Haynes was never comfortable with the hero label, believing the other members of the crew - especially the flight attendants - deserved more credit than he did.