Absolutely.

Again, I'm not so sure that the design changes are really the key, but they have certainly made modern a/c safer than the DC-10.

But the real cause of this incident was AA's maintenance procedure which did not follow McDonnell Douglas's guidelines, in order to save time.

As a result, the engine was not properly attached to the nacelle, and that was the primary cause for the accident.

But if a catastrophic incident of this type were to occur on take-off, there is very little safety margin before the a/c reaches its stall speed. With one engine down and possible damage to the airframe and hydraulics, this would be a very tough situation to master, even in a modern a/c and with an experienced pilot.