Horrifying fact: one of the victims who perished on this flight was a man named Leonard Stogel, who's parents also died in a plane crash, (AA flight 1, on March 1, 1962.) both crashes were due to improper maintenance...
The most horrifying fact, this flight was set up to let passengers watch the view from the front of the plane as they took off. Never proven it was active for this flight, let's hope it wasn't. Another horrifying fact, Kathy Aducci was set to be married June 2nd 1979, but her fiance broke off the engagement. She was taking a trip to Hawaii with two friends when she died on Flight 191. She had her funeral service and burial on June 2nd 1979.
That Friday I was about a mile away in Des Plaines, the DC-10 crashed just beyond the Chicago PD dog training facility on Touhy Ave, if it crashed about half a mile West, it would have wiped out a whole trailer park area. I attended a memorial service at Touhy and Lee Street made with 272 stones with victim's names on them about 10 years ago or more, don't remember. I was 30 then I am 75 now and still live in the area, every time I drive down Touhy avenue I look at the end of 32R and the memorial at Lee street, I remember that day in 1979, May 25........................................
Ultimately a (barely) flyable configuration even at that stage in takeoff I think. If the pilots had been aware of exactly what had actually happened, and the retracted slats on the left side, they could have controlled the airplane. Horrible tragedy.
