Gruff, terse and mean - brrrr. Afraid he was going to whip people with the braid!

Here's the NTSB summary and statement of probable cause:

During the takeoff roll on runway 30R, the MD-82, N954U, collided with the Cessna 441, N441KM, which was positioned on the runway waiting for takeoff clearance. The pilot of the Cessna acted on an apparently preconceived idea that he would use his arrival runway, runway 30R, for departure. After receiving taxi clearance to back-taxi into position and hold on runway 31, the pilot taxied into a position at an intersection on runway 30R, which was the assigned departure runway for the MD-82. The ATIS current at the time the Cessna pilot was operating in the Lambert-St. Louis area listed runways 30R and 30L as the active runways for arrivals and departures; there was no mention of the occasional use of runway 31. Air traffic control personnel were not able to maintain visual contact with the Cessna after it taxied from the well-lighted ramp area into the runway/taxiway environment of the northeast portion of the airport. An operational ASDE-3, particularly ASDE-3 enhanced with AMASS, could be used to supplement visual scan of the northeast portion of the airport.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The Cessna 441 pilot's mistaken belief that his assigned departure runway was runway 30R, which resulted in his undetected entrance onto runway 30R, which was being used by the MD-82 for its departure. Contributing to the accident was the lack of Automatic Terminal Information Service and other air traffic control (ATC) information regarding the occasional use of runway 31 for departure. The installation and utilization of Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE-3), and particularly ASDE-3 enhanced with the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS), could have prevented this accident. (NTSB Report AAR-95/05)

The aircraft type is too likely. Had it been an Airbus MD-80 or Boeing EMB-145 then I might have believed you.

Aviation journalism is bunk since the invention of this page:
http://radans.net/jens/planestory.html

Which was actually my point. I didn't find a smiley that was tongue in cheek...

Senior Conchito,
I found the first part of this report but the links to the rest of the reports did not work. This is terrible Talk about a cliff hanger

I really liked the 1st part.

LOL, I was in Gander once due to a diversion as well.

I haven't had any real white-knuckle flights, though I've been on flights rough enough to throw drinks around.

I did have a six-hour ATL-ATL flight that was supposed to be ATL-SVO. We turned around right before heading over the Atlantic due to a failed flight computer.

This doesn't really count as a flight experience, but a few years ago I worked for a small commuter airline based out of MDW. They operated about 12 run down old ex American Eagle Saab 340b's. Anyways, about 10 minutes prior to departure, I was doing a routine walk around of the plane, and noticed it was missing an entire wheel. On the rear gear, it's double wheeled on both sides. The outer wheel on the #2 side was completely gone..

I don't know what's more scary, the fact that the plane at some point lost a wheel (it's not good when the wheels just come off..) Or the fact that I had to be the one to notice it. The pilot had already completed the walk around and the plane would have just left that way had I not noticed.

I'll say it now because the airline is now out of business, but it was not a safe airline to fly.. There were all sorts of incidences that took place that would make you cringe.

Yep, and apparently quite a bit. On my second-worst turbulence flight, I was seated by the FA jumpseat. They were, of course, belted in since the plane was bouncing like a bronco. This led to an interesting conversation about one of the FA's worst turbulence experience. He said that it was in Iceland, and he was utterly amazed to see just how much flex those wings have without snapping off. Compared to that, he swore that what we were experiencing was nothing. Turbulence doesn't freak me too much, but if it ever starts to I just remind myself of his story.

A well-publicized stress test on a 777 had the wings flex 37 feet before structural failure occurred.

The links won't work anymore because the reports have gone to archive.

Try searching the Trip Reports forum for user "El Cochinito" for posts going back to the beginning of time. You should be able to find them that way.