On Fri, 3 Nov 2006 00:24:54 -0600, "Jim Macklin"
wrote:

That accident was almost a successful landing, right up to
the point that they dropped the gear.

Wrong accident...you're thinking of United 232 in Sioux City. American 191 is
the one in Chicago where the engine pod physically broke free of the wing right
after takeoff. 271 dead, no survivors.

I have my own strange connection to the Chicago accident. I was an on-duty
operator for a USAF missile launch detection satellite which operated in the IR
spectrum. We detected the heat from the crash.

Ron Wanttaja