Word: tails
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...plane's redundant hydraulic systems at the same moment, rendering it almost impossible to control. FAA investigators are combing a 16-sq.-mi. area of Iowa cornfields for pieces of a fan disk of the plane's No. 2 engine, which was mounted high on the DC-10's tail. They hope that examining the fan disk will help them determine what caused an explosion that sent shards of metal through the plane's tail section, severing all three hydraulic lines...
...lifted and the battle begun. Since the fly is attached to the line with a gossamer-thin tippet, a fisherman must use the long, sensitive rod to tire the trout as it surges and runs, leaps and sometimes literally walks across the water's surface on its tail. There is no mistaking this magic. The fish explodes again, up through a silver shower of water, shaking its head in an effort to throw the hook. You notice the color. It is gorgeous, almost surreal. The trout's meaty flanks sport outrageous spots of black and orange, horizontal streaks of silver...
Then came a calming voice from the flight deck. "We have lost the No. 2 engine," it announced. "We will be a little late arriving in Chicago." Engine No. 2 sits high on the tail and is identical to the two turbofan jets under the wings. Any one of the three engines is capable of powering the plane in an emergency. As the aircraft seemed to steady, passengers relaxed, turning back to their books or drinks...
Something unprecedented had happened. Not only had the plane's tail engine lost its cone, but its fan had literally shattered. The disintegrating engine somehow flung shrapnel-like chunks of hot metal past the chamber designed to contain any such breakup. The pieces apparently ripped into all three hydraulic lines that converge at the tail, killing or at least vastly reducing hydraulic pressure...
Only three sections came to rest intact enough to be recognizable: the nose and flight deck; a passenger area, containing Rows 9 to 19, that had been attached to the now severed wings; the tail, including a few rear seats. As rescue crews swung into action, they were startled by the sight of passengers emerging from the smoking rubble and walking away from the wreck into the field of 7-ft.-tall corn...