The plane, which just arrived from Phoenix, was assigned to fly flight 191 from Chicago to Los Angeles. At 2.59pm (local time GMT-6) the plane began its taxi to runway 32 right (32R) and at 3.02pm was cleared to takeoff from the runway. However, as the pilots began to raise the nose of the plane, the number one engine, located on the left wing, broke off from the plane. With the remaining length of the runway, stopping the plane would be impossible, so the pilots continued with the takeoff, knowing that two engines are enough to fly a DC-10.