Al Haynes was born in Paris, Texas, on August 31, 1931. He attended Texas A&M College prior to joining the Navy. After four years in the Navy he joined United Airlines, where he rose through the ranks for the next 35 years. He retired in 1991.
Career
Military career
Haynes lost his draft deferment while taking a semester off from Texas A&M, while the United States was engaged in the Korean War, and decided to join the US Navy. He spent four years in the Navy, serving as a pilot.
United Airlines flying career
Haynes joined United Airlines after his wartime service. For most of his career with United Airlines he served as a flight engineer or co-pilot, turning down offers of promotion, because they would have required moving from Seattle. However, in 1985, he did accept a promotion to Captain, because he would approaching retirement soon, and his retirement pay would be based on his pay in his last five years. On July 19, 1989, Haynes was the Captain of United Airlines Flight 232, piloting a DC-10, a large three-engined airliner, carrying 292 passengers and crew. The plane had left Denver for Chicago, with a final destination of Philadelphia, but experienced a catastrophic engine failure in its rear engine, which triggered a loss of hydraulic fluid. Without hydraulic fluid Haynes and his flight crew could not move the plane's flaps and rudder and almost all other control surfaces. Without flight controls the plane was turning to the right. Haynes shut down the tail engine, controlling the turn to the right by using differential thrust from the remaining two wing-mounted engines. An off-duty pilot, Dennis Edward Fitch, joined Haynes and his co-pilot, William Roy Records, and flight engineer Dudley Joseph Dvorak, on the flight-deck. The plane was diverted to Sioux City, for an emergency landing. With his very limited ability to control the plane Haynes had difficulty lining up on a runway, and performing the crucial step of reducing speed and landing nose-up. Consequently the plane came in at almost twice the desired landing speed, with catastrophic damage to the airframe. The plane broke into pieces, on the runway, with remaining fuel bursting into flame. 180 people survived the crash-landing. 32 died of smoke inhalation, 80 died of traumatic injuries. Haynes and his colleagues were trapped in the cockpit. Thirty minutes after the crash-landing rescuers identified the cockpit and rescued them, with minor injuries. Haynes returned to flight duty, after his recovery.
Career after United Airlines
According to NPR, "Haynes is widely seen as a hero among aviation experts, akin to Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and his 'miracle on the Hudson.'" He was also a volunteer umpire for Little League Baseball for over 33 years and a stadium announcer for high school football for more that 25 years. He was an umpire in the 1978 Little League World Series. He was referred to as a hero, but refused to say he was one. He gave all the credit to the flight attendants, whom he believed did not receive enough credit for the work they did.
Haynes died on August 25, 2019 in a Seattle hospital after a brief illness, six days before his eighty-eighth birthday. When Haynes died in August 2019, United Airlines issued a statement thanking him for "his exceptional efforts aboard Flight UA232".
