Haunting similarities can be found between Tuesday's UPS jet crash and the deadliest aviation incident in U.S. history, an American Airlines plane crash at O'Hare Airport in 1979.

The MD-11 cargo jet and its passenger predecessor, the DC-10 passenger plane, have both faced a trail of trouble spanning decades. The three-engine jetliners have been plagued by maintenance and mechanical concerns, control issues, crashes and other accidents.

Tuesday’s MD-11 had a left engine fall to the ground after liftoff. A similar left-engine drop occurred before an American Airlines DC-10 crash at O’Hare in 1979, claiming the lives of 273 people.

The left engine on American flight 191 broke off a wing and fell to the ground just after takeoff in Chicago on May 25, 1979.

More than four decades later-the

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