Thanks for the reminder. I remember the day quite vividly. I was in San Francisco (I live in San Diego) and using a pay phone (how quaint) to try to get updated info about the crash. My biggest client commuted LAX-ORD-LAX each week. As I recall the crash was on a Friday, and he often took that AA flight, although that was before frequent flyer programs, and he sometimes flew UA as well. We didn't know if Bill was on the flight or not. (Fortunately, he took a morning flight that day.)

The best man in our wedding lived (and still lives) in LA. He was flying ORD-LAX that day, and we didn't know his situation for sure. I think he was on a later flight that day.

A friend of ours from San Diego had contracted a serious disease (we were in our mid-30s), and he went to the Mayo Clinic for treatment by way of ORD. He was on his way back to San Diego, and in fact was a casualty of AA191. (He left a widow and two small children.) I'm not sure why he was on an LAX flight instead of a flight to SAN, but there could have been a million reasons for that.

I guess luck plays a very big part in the way things turn out!

As an aside I would speculate that I think of the possibility of an engine falling off the plane on takeoff about 50+% of the time (out of approx 50 takeoffs a year), specifically thinking of AA191. Kinda weird , isn't it?

Interesting note from Wikipedia: Flight 191 remains the deadliest single airliner disaster on U.S. soil.

Interesting facts from airdisaster.com: In command of flight 191 was Capt. Walter Lux, a 22,000 hour pilot who had flown the DC-10 nearly since its introduction eight years earlier. Assisting him on the flight deck were First Officer James Dillard and Flight Engineer Alfred Udovich, who had 25,000 flying hours between them.