On September 22, 1981, the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar jet operating the flight suffered an uncontained engine failure which led to a loss of 3 out of the 4 hydraulic systems aboard the aircraft at an altitude of 10,000 feet (3,000 m) MSL.

The crew were able to land the aircraft safely to an emergency landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport with some limited use of the outboard spoilers, the inboard ailerons and the horizontal stabilizer, plus differential engine power of the remaining two engines.

[1] The plane was a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, registration N309EA,[2] C/n / msn: 1010, fitted with Rolls-Royce RB211-22B turbofan engines, delivered in July 1972.

The aircraft departed from Newark international airport at 11:25am using a reduced thrust take-off power setting.

They landed the plane on runway 22L at 12:12pm, it was determined that there was no immediate danger and the pilot taxied normally to the gate.