Wide-body aircraft as large and heavy as the DC-10 normally do not operate at National, with its relatively short 6,800-foot main runway. Once it had landed, authorities were concerned about whether it could safely take-off.
But the three-engine plane, carrying a relatively light fuel load, made it easily into the air around 9:45 PM, and reached BWI shortly afterward, according to an to an operations officer at National. Carrying no passengers, but with cargo and baggage still on board, it lifted off about half way down the runway, he said.