In the history of aviation accidents, the stories of some tragedies become strange ones that persist long after investigators have determined what went wrong. One of the most disturbing accounts of a major air disaster involves American Airlines Flight 191, which crashed on May 25, 1979 near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, killing 273 people. Years later, a man named David Booth claimed to have repeatedly seen visions of the crash in the days before the disaster, disturbing visions he said he reported to authorities before the plane took off.
A scene that repeats itself night after night
Booth later described the experience as something different from an ordinary dream. “Everyone talks about dreams and everyone has dreams. I didn’t have a dream, I had a dream.” According to Booth, the scene unfolded the same every time. He said he could see a bright day, a large airport, and a long runway with a large passenger plane preparing for departure. “The dream would always start the same way. It was a bright sunlit day and I’m looking at a very big airport and a very long runway and there’s a very big plane there.” In the vision, Booth said he could clearly identify the airline. “I can see American Airlines. I saw the plane start running on the runway and its speed increases.”But as soon as the plane started taking off, something seemed wrong. “Suddenly, as it was shutting down, I got the impression that there was something wrong with the sound the engine was making.” Booth said the plane remained airborne briefly before disaster struck. Speaking later on the YouTube channel our extraordinary worldHe described seeing the plane ascending and then suddenly rolling before falling toward the ground. “It goes straight up into the air before turning and going straight back down to the ground where it explodes into this huge inferno and then a wave of despair.” He said the emotional impact of the scene felt almost physical. “Just like a physical object would hit you straight in the chest.”
Ten nights of the same disturbing scene
Experiencing such a dream would be unsettling for anyone. Booth said the same scene kept returning night after night. According to his account, this sequence was repeated ten times over ten consecutive nights, each time repeating the same fateful moment. He said that the psychological stress of repeating that scene again and again became overwhelming. “Every day, it got worse and worse and worse. Not knowing what to do, not knowing what I was supposed to do. Not being able to forget an image, not just in my mind, but in the core structure of my entire being.” Not sure what else to do, Booth decided to contact the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to report what he had seen.
call the faa
Booth eventually reached FAA Public Affairs Director Jack Barker, who took his call seriously, even though the information he received was vague. Barker later recalled that Booth did not seem irrational. “David seemed perfectly sane and reliable, there was nothing strange about him. He had (at that time) had a disturbing dream on seven consecutive nights.” Barker said he listened carefully every time Booth called, but the vision contained no specific details on which authorities could act. “I would talk to him and listen to him but David’s dream didn’t give me enough information to do anything about it. It didn’t give a location, it didn’t give a flight, it gave some numbers that didn’t mean anything.” Barker said he treated the calls respectfully, but pointed out that there was nothing officers could realistically investigate. “I said: ‘Thanks. Nothing we can do about it, but thanks for the information.'”
American Airlines Flight 191 crash
On May 25, 1979, the disaster Booth had feared became reality. American Airlines Flight 191, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 traveling from Chicago to Los Angeles, crashes moments after takeoff from O’Hare International Airport. Shortly after the aircraft took off from the runway, its left engine separated from the wing, causing severe damage and a rapid loss of control.
In 1979, American Airlines Flight 191 burst into flames less than a mile from the runway (Image: Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The plane rolled over and crashed in an open field near the airport before bursting into flames. All 271 people on board and two people on the ground were killed, bringing the total death toll to 273. No one survived, making it the deadliest aviation accident in United States history at the time.
learning about disasters
Booth later said that he realized that something had changed on the final night of the vision. According to his account, the dream ended with the feeling that he would not return. The next morning he went to work as usual, but shortly after arriving he received devastating news. He recalled the moment he was told about the accident. “I got up, went to work. I was at work for 15 minutes when the phone rang. ‘Dave, I’m sad to tell you, American Airlines flight DC-10 has crashed an hour before takeoff. No survivors.'” When Barker later learned of the disaster, he said that the similarities between Booth’s account and the accident were disturbing. “It amazed me how accurate he was. It was basically what he dreamed.”Reflecting on the experience, Barker said that the feeling was difficult to explain. “You have to experience it to understand how terrible it is.”
Long lasting questions and horror stories
For Booth, the experience never completely faded. Years later he admitted that he still thinks about those visions and wonders if something else could have been done. “I still think about it and I always wonder, was there something else I could have done?” After the accident, other strange stories also began to circulate locally. Drivers passing by the crash site reported that a strange white light was moving in the field where the plane fell. Residents of a nearby trailer park described hearing unexplained rattling sounds and barking dogs on an apparently empty field. Some residents also claimed that a confused man came to their door late at night and asked to bring back his belongings before he disappeared again. An account has been described “Smoldering man” who “smelled of gasoline” Ask to make an emergency phone call. These stories were never verified, but they became part of the folklore surrounding the disaster.
Flight 191’s inauspicious reputation
The crash of Flight 191 also gave rise to another aviation superstition. The flight number itself has been linked to many tragic incidents. Since 1963, six separate flights carrying number 191 have ended in fatal crashes. Coincidence or not, this number has developed an ominous reputation in aviation. However, for David Booth, the scariest part of the story is the ten nights before the crash, and he says he could not stop watching the disturbing scene.