(Radio Iowa) – Thirty-two years ago — on July 19th, 1989 — United Flight 232 (two-32) crashed at the Sioux City airport. The plane took off from Denver and was bound for Chicago with nearly 300 passengers when it suffered hydraulic failure. An air traffic controller told Captain Al Haynes, the pilot, to do whatever he could to avoid hitting the city.

Due to the loss of hydraulics, the pilot could only make right turns and was flying the plane manually. Emergency crews were waiting at the airport.

The plane tipped just above the ground and a wing hit the runway first. The airliner cartwheeled down the runway, broke into pieces, burst into flames and skidded to a stop in a cornfield at the edge of the airport. One-hundred-12 (112) died, while 184 people on board survived.

United Flight 232 with visible tail damage. Photo taken just before the plane landed, cartwheeled and exploded in Sioux City, in 1989.