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Buzz Feed
12-05-2025
- General
- Buzz Feed
21 Uniquely Common Experiences From The Past
Recently, older adults of the BuzzFeed Community shared the unique but common experiences from "way back when" that are basically obsolete in today's age. Here are some stories that, depending on your age, will either have you feeling extremely nostalgic or incredibly confused: "Girls and women had to wear rubber swim caps in the pool. They were hard to get on and hurt to get off. That changed in the '60s when guys started sporting longer hair." —modernduck79 "We let our dogs out whenever, and they would come home whenever. Dogs freely roamed our suburban neighborhood, so we often had to watch our step!" "When I was in elementary school, I would go home for lunch. My dad, who worked the second shift, would have soup and a sandwich ready on TV trays in front of the TV. After lunch, I would just walk back to school and finish the day." —Anonymous "Our high school recognized the opening day of deer season, so we got the day off. The guys had guns in their trucks, and no one would have ever thought about shooting up the school." "We didn't have cellphones, so we had to find a pay phone to call home. We didn't have Google to ask questions for essays or book reports, either, so we went to the library to find out information." —smileyglue356 "During and after WWII, some common items were in short supply. Families were issued ration books with tear-out pages. You were allowed to purchase a bag of sugar, but if you used it up before the next book came, you had to use honey. Also, you could only get one pound of butter. Margarine was also available, but it was white and in a bag with an orange dye button, which my brother and I had to squeeze and mash in the bag until it turned pale yellow. Nylon was in short supply, so ladies learned how to stitch up the runs on stockings." "We used coal to heat our home in the '50s and '60s. Most kids learned how to drive by the time they were 14." —Anonymous "In the '50s, our refrigerator was actually an icebox. It stood upright like today's models. The ice man would come around with big blocks of ice that went to the top of the compartment." "My first flight was on Northwest Orient Airlines. It was a three-hour domestic trip, and I was seated in economy. For mealtime, I had a medium rare steak, a baked potato, vegetables, a roll, and a glass of burgundy. My, how things have changed." —Anonymous "In high school, I'd play arcade games in the school store, and there'd be a silver metal ashtray standing next to the game. I'd be playing while holding my burning cigarette. Man, the '80s were the best decade to grow up in." "When I was a kid, we had drive-in movie theaters where you had to anchor the speaker by rolling up your window to hold it on. You would pay one price for an entire car full of people! As kids, we'd often go dressed in our pajamas and bring sleeping bags that we'd drape across the hood of the car. It was great fun and cheap entertainment. There are very few drive-ins now, but if there is one in or near your town, please check it out!" —procake147 "You had to do whatever other adults told you to do, even those you weren't related to. I remember one time, my friend and I were pretending that the curb was a tightrope. Some lady came out of her house and told us to stop it or we'd get hurt. We stopped what we were doing, no questions asked. It doesn't work that way now." "At the supermarket, there was always a person at the end of the line who'd bag your groceries. It happens occasionally still today, but it was a requirement back then, and it made getting groceries a whole lot faster." —Tom, New Jersey "If you went to Catholic mass in the '60s, women who didn't wear a hat had a tissue pinned to their heads by a nun at the door." "You could go into a hospital, walk by the maternity ward, and look at all the babies through the windows. The curtains were always open; it was great!" —Anonymous, 72 "In the mid-'60s, I went to a package liquor store in Colorado when I was 11 and told the man in the window that I wanted a pint of bourbon and a six-pack of beer for my uncle. The man asked who my uncle was, and I told him his name and the street he lived on. The man in the window simply said, 'Okay,' and I gave him the money for the alcohol." "It was legal for employers to ask a woman during an interview when their last period was. It happened to me, and it didn't faze me at the time because it was considered the norm." —Anonymous "There used to be big trucks lumbering down the streets in the late springs and summers, pumping out yellow clouds of DDT (insecticide) to kill mosquitoes. All the neighborhood kids would run through the DDT cloud like it was some big fun event." "The lyrics to most songs were written on the inside sleeve when you purchased an album." —Anonymous "I was telling some twentysomething coworkers how I saw fireflies the other night, and they didn't know what I was talking about. I guess they don't know what they are?" Lastly: "At shoe stores, X-ray machines were used to look at our feet to determine shoe size. We didn't wear lead aprons or any protection. We just stood on the little platform of the machine, and it showed the bones in our feet." —Anonymous, 84, New York Running through insecticide for fun is, um, wild. If you're an older adult, what are some common experiences from "back in the day" that younger people will never get to experience? Let us know in the comments, or you can anonymously submit your story using the form below!
Daily Mail
03-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Five most likely suspects behind iconic DB Cooper mystery as net closes in on identifying him
While the true identity of DB Cooper has been a mystery for decades, an expert says he could be unmasked in months. The enigma behind Cooper - the man who jumped out of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 with thousands in cash after handing a stewardess a note demanding the ransom on November 24, 1971 - has long stumped the FBI. Over the years, several names have been tossed around from Richard McCoy Jr. to Vince Peterson, but no one has officially taken the crown as the real DB Cooper. 'I think it's a very real possibility we figure out who this guy was this year,' independent Investigator Eric Ulis told 'So it's actually really, really pretty thrilling. 'So I feel very good that ultimately, there's a real possibility we're going to have a pretty good idea who this guy was within the next 10 months, by the end of this year.' Cooper was flying between Portland and Seattle when he made his heist, demanding $200,000 in cash and four parachutes in exchange for keeping the 42 souls onboard alive. He wanted the money once they landed in Seattle and the mysterious man then ordered the pilots to refuel and head toward Mexico. While 10,000 feet over Washington, he left from the rear of the plane with the ransom strapped to his waist. The famous conman then disappeared into thin air, leading to a 50-year investigation into the hijacker's real identity. However, there have been a few recent updates that offer promising leads. A JCPenney clip-on tie may lead to the breakthrough in his identity as it was left behind during the infamous hijack. A speck of a chemical on the discarded tie has opened the door to an explosive theory that could finally reveal the true identity of the elusive suspect. While the FBI closed its investigation into Cooper in July 2016, the tie remains in the bureau's possession. Only a handful of people have ever been allowed access to it. Over a 20-year period the FBI interviewed more than 1,000 suspects, but the real culprit has never been revealed. takes a look at the top suspects for the bewildering plane hijacker. 1. Dan Cooper DB Cooper smoked many cigarettes while on the flight and used a matchbook made in Oak Ridge to light it. Ralph Cooper was a longtime employee at Oak Ridge, working there from 1962 to 1997, and he had a brother named Dan. Dan Cooper was accidentally shot dead by police in August 1960 while helping law enforcement search for a fugitive cop killer near his home in Heiskell, Tennessee. His father, Kaley Cooper, was also shot but survived. The Cooper family later sued the local sheriff, seeking $400,000 in damages: $200,000 for the death of Dan Cooper and $200,000 for the injuries sustained by Kaley Cooper. The family lost the Kaley Cooper suit, meaning they missed out on a $200,000 settlement - the same amount requested by DB Cooper a decade later in 1971. There is no concrete evidence linking the shooting of Dan Cooper to the DB Cooper heist, but Ulis thinks it might be worth looking into. However, Ulis theorized it's possible that DB Cooper was a colleague of Ralph's and used his brother's name as an alias in a 'wink-and-nod' reference. 'It's possible that DB Cooper knew of this story because it was well-reported in the media at the time,' Ulis said. 'Maybe it was a subtle reference, or maybe it's just a name he subconsciously latched onto. 'Who knows? But it's something interesting to consider as this investigation moves forward,' Ulis said. 2. Richard McCoy Jr. McCoy's children - Chanté and Richard III 'Rick' McCoy - had always suspected their father may have been DB Cooper but had refrained from coming forward until their mother died as they believed she was complicit in the crime. When she passed away, they reached out to amateur investigator Dan Gryder to tell their story. The YouTuber said he discovered what he believes to be the parachute and rig used by Cooper while visiting the McCoy family's North Carolina property in July 2022. 'We stumbled upon this happenstance, which caused us to have access to this building, and we went up in that building and we looked around it,' he told the 'We didn't find [the rig] quickly. It took me and two other people like four hours. We all discovered that together, equally, and completely random.' Cooper's hijacking demands had included that authorities give him four parachutes, which were supplied by a local skydiving center. Gryder explained that the parachute found in the McCoy's storage unit has the same unique alterations as the chutes in the Cooper hijacking. Another crucial piece of evidence is a logbook that aligned with Cooper's hijacking over Oregon as well as the Utah hijacking McCoy was convicted of that took place months later. What stands out is that McCoy had a test jump on September 1971, two months before the Cooper heist, and again on March 1972, one month before the Utah hijacking. On April 7, 1972, McCoy commandeered United Airlines Flight 855, another Boeing 727, en route from Newark, New Jersey, to Los Angeles, California. He demanded $500,000 in cash and parachuted out the plane as soon as he had the money. He was arrested after the FBI received a tip from a concerned citizen. McCoy was later sentenced to 45 years in prison for the heist, but later broke out of the maximum security with three other prisoners. The hijacker was eventually shot and killed by agents in his Virginia Beach home after being tracked down in 1974. Gryder explained that the North Carolina farm was owned by McCoy's mother and she had kept those items in memory of her son. 'She was kind of a hoarder of emotional things, pictures, letters, scrapbooks. This was her prized son. She was very proud of Richard Floyd McCoy. She knew full well that he did two hijacking. Those rigs and those artifacts became treasured family heirlooms,' he said. McCoy's grave is on the property and his headstone lists his military accomplishments including his experience with parachuting - implying he was capable of making the jump on November 24, 1971. For years the authorities have sought answers and Gryder told that the FBI is taking his new find very seriously and conducting DNA tests. 'Finding the parachute is not conclusive, it's not going to solve it, that's all circumstantial. What the FBI is going to have to have is solid DNA, and that is the path,' Gryder said. 'Their entire goal is a positive DNA lock, and that's the end towards which they are working.' Gryder told there are parts of Rick's DNA that lined up 'perfectly' with that of DB Cooper, possibly indicating a partial match of a relative. He added that investigators are now seeking to exhume the body for further testing in a bombshell revelation. 'All [the McCoy children] were able to tell us is that there's DNA markers that are present, and they have X amount of those that line up perfectly like Swiss cheese models where all the holes in the Swiss cheese eventually line up, but they need more of those markers, and where they have fallen down is the difference between the son's DNA and the necktie versus actual Richard Floyd Mccoy,' he said. 'Indisputable DNA, which would give them more of those markers, is what is what they're looking for. That that's where they were at on the thing. And that's how come they've requested to exhume the body, which is a huge deal.' 3. Walter R. Reca Michigander Walter R. Reca allegedly admitted he was Cooper to a friend, 2018 recordings showed. The 82nd Airborne paratrooper, who went on to become a covert intelligence operative for several governments, says he handed a stewardess a note announcing the hijacking that said: 'This is a hijack and I've got explosives.' 'She said: "I can't believe you're actually hijacking this airplane." I said: "I can't believe it either but I'm serious,"' Reca recalled. As a result of his admission, a team of investigators in Michigan are certain that Reca is the true identity of Cooper. They claim that 'Cooper' was a former Army paratrooper and war veteran who survived the jump and went on to become a high-level covert intelligence operative for several governments. Reca died in 2014 at the age of 80. 4. Vince Peterson Ulis also previously claimed in 2023 that Vince Peterson, an engineer, could be the culprit. Petersen worked as a Boeing subcontractor at a titanium plant and fits the evidence left behind by the infamous hijacker. He would have been 52 at the time of the crime and has been long dead. Ulis - who was five when the plane-jacking occurred - first landed on Petersen's name after analyzing microscopic evidence left on the clip-on black tie DB left before he parachuted out of the plane. Several of the particles found were consistent with specialty metals used in the aerospace sector, such as titanium, high-grade stainless steel and aluminum, Ulis explained. The sleuth claimed he found 'three particles of a very rare alloy of titanium and antimony that have a very specific balance, a very specific blend.' Ulis then paired the alloy with a US patent given to the Boeing subcontractor in Pittsburg. The company is no longer around which but Ulis managed to interview a man who worked there as a supervisor and pointed to Peterson. Peterson is also a match for the physical description of DB, which Ulis described as 'between the ages of 45-50, clean-cut, conservative, with a high forehead and roughly six foot one'. After hearing the description, the supervisor reportedly responded immediately, saying: 'That sounds like Vince Petersen.' 5. Sheridan Peterson Sheridan Peterson was one of the chief suspects in the notorious 1971 hijacking. Peterson, who once admitted even his friends believed it was him, died on January 8, 2021, in Northern California, according to an obituary posted online. His cause of death is not clear, but he leaves behind a son and daughter. Peterson long claimed that, at the time of the skyjacking, he was living in a mud hut in Nepal working on a 'protest novel' about his experiences in Vietnam. But he also toyed with the idea he could be the mysterious DB Cooper on several occasions over the years and his ex-wife once said she believed it could have been him. Investigators long suspected Peterson could have been the notorious hijacker due to his time in the Marines and work for aerospace giant Boeing. He also loved skydiving and was a smokejumper - the name for the highly trained firefighters who parachute into wildfire zones - and was prone to quirky risk-taking, such as experimenting with homemade bat wings. Within weeks of the November 24 hijacking, FBI agents showed up to interview Peterson's ex-wife at her high school counseling office in Bakersfield, California. Asked if her ex-husband could be DB Cooper, she replied: 'Yes, that sounded like something he'd do.' Many years later in 2004, the FBI took a DNA test from Peterson to compare it against a clip tie that DB Cooper left behind on Northwest Orient flight #305. After the test was taken, he was never publicly ruled out by the FBI - unlike other suspects who were DNA tested. Peterson has also reveled in the speculation surrounding him, writing in a 2007 essay for trade publication Smokejumper that 'the FBI had good reason to suspect me'.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Plane crashes that stunned our city
As investigators recover victims in the wreckage of an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter, which collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last night, we turn to the Tribune's archives. Here's a look back at commercial passenger plane crashes that stunned Chicago. A Transcontinental and Western airliner carrying 15 people — 12 passengers and three crew members — hit a tree and house at 6045 S. Kilbourn Ave. but managed to land in an empty lot near Chicago Municipal Airport (now Midway). All 15 survived. 'Why, the plane is almost an exact fit for that lot,' an observer told the Tribune. 'A lot of terrible things could have happened and didn't.' A United Airlines DC-3 laden with ice on its windshield and wings stalled and crashed into a house at 6350 S. Keating Ave. on its second landing attempt at now Midway, killing 10. It's believed to be the first commercial airplane crash in the city. The crash caused the Civil Aeronautics Board to recommend that stall-warning devices be installed on airplanes to let pilots know when they are going too slow to stay aloft and to urge research into ways to reduce icing. A Delta Air Lines DC-4 crashed and burned on takeoff from Midway airport. A gust lock, intended to prevent wind damage to the tail's control surfaces when the plane is on the ground, was suspected. Twelve of 13 people on board died. 'Witnesses at the airport said the huge plane took off into a north wind and had a clear field ahead,' the Tribune reported. 'The first hint of trouble was the flare-up and explosion when the plane hit the earth.' A Braniff Airways twin-engine Convair 340 trying to land at Midway Airport in fog struck a 15-foot-tall gas station sign at the northwest corner of the airport and crashed, killing 22 and injuring 21. The crash was one of several accidents that prompted the city and federal governments to restrict obstructions and the height of buildings near airports. Capt. George A. Stone, the pilot of a Stratocruiser, was credited when all 68 people survived a crash landing in the same area as the Braniff accident. 'Stone told officials of Northwest Orient Airlines that the propellers of the plane failed to reverse as he made a normal landing after a flight from Minneapolis,' the Tribune reported. A loose bolt caused one-third of the tail section of a TWA Constellation plane to fall away minutes after takeoff from Midway airport and crash into a farm field near west suburban Clarendon Hills. All 78 people aboard died. An improperly installed device to boost power to the wing ailerons that control flight caused a Northwest Orient Airlines Electra to crash after takeoff from O'Hare International Airport. The plane, bound for Florida, rolled to the right then descended, first striking a 34,000-volt power line, then a railroad embankment. 'Turning in … no control,' were the last distinguishable words from the cockpit, the Tribune reported. All 37 people aboard died. A United Airlines 727 descending at night to land at O'Hare flew into Lake Michigan about 20 miles east of Lake Forest. Because of an instrument error, the plane apparently descended through its assigned altitude of 6,000 feet with the crew thinking it was at 16,000 feet. All 30 people aboard died. Buffeted by wingtip turbulence from a jet that had just taken off, a North Central Airlines Convair 580 lost control while taking off and hit a hangar at O'Hare. Twenty-eight died and 27 others were injured, including several people on the ground. This crash and others prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to require a greater interval between jet aircraft on takeoff and landing. Forty-five people died when a United jet crashed into bungalows on West 70th Place while approaching Midway airport for landing. Eighteen aboard the plane survive. 50 years ago, a plane crashed into homes outside Midway, killing 45 people. The neighborhood hasn't forgotten. The crash resulted in some bizarre theories about sabotage after it was discovered that the wife of Watergate conspirator Howard Hunt was one of the victims and she was carrying $10,000 in cash in a briefcase. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found no evidence of foul play and blamed the crash on errors by the pilot, who failed to retract the plane's spoilers, or air brakes, at the critical stage of the descent, causing the plane to stall and crash 1.5 miles short of the runway. Two planes collided on a fog-shrouded runway at O'Hare, killing 10 of the 138 aboard. All the victims initially survived the collision, but some were overcome by fumes from the burning North Central Airlines DC-9 jet. Poor communications between controllers and the crew of the Delta Air Lines Convair 880, which caused the Delta plane to taxi across a runway being used by the North Central plane for a takeoff, were cited. The ensuing fire caused federal officials to recommend the use of less toxic materials and better lights in airline cabins. At the start of Memorial Day weekend, an American Airlines DC-10 bound for Los Angeles crashed just 31 seconds after takeoff from O'Hare airport. It's still the deadliest passenger airline accident on U.S. soil — 271 people aboard the plane and two more on the ground died. A passenger manifest has never been released by the airline, but Bill and Corrinne Borchers were two of the victims. Today, their children Kim Borchers Jockl and her siblings Melody and Jim have worked to connect friends and family of the victims. They started a Facebook group and published a book about their experiences called 'Safe Landing: A family's journey following the crash of American Airlines Flight 191.' A memorial to the victims was dedicated in 2011 at Lake Park in Des Plaines, less than 2 miles east of the crash site. An American Eagle ATR 72 crashed in an Indiana field 60 miles southeast of Chicago after dealing with freezing rain while in a holding pattern for O'Hare. All 68 people aboard were killed. The preliminary investigation indicated the crew lost control after ice built up on the wing behind the de-icing devices. The accident caused the temporary withdrawal of that type of aircraft from service in northern climates until the wing icing problem could be solved. A Southwest Airlines plane landing in a snowstorm skidded off the runway at Midway airport, smashed into cars on Central Avenue and killed a 6-year-old boy in a car. Become a Tribune subscriber: It's just $12 for a 1-year digital subscription Thanks for reading! Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@ and mmather@
Chicago Tribune
30-01-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Plane crashes that stunned our city
As investigators recover victims in the wreckage of an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter, which collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last night, we turn to the Tribune's archives. Here's a look back at commercial passenger plane crashes that stunned Chicago. May 31, 1936 A Transcontinental and Western airliner carrying 15 people — 12 passengers and three crew members — hit a tree and house at 6045 S. Kilbourn Ave. but managed to land in an empty lot near Chicago Municipal Airport (now Midway). All 15 survived. 'Why, the plane is almost an exact fit for that lot,' an observer told the Tribune. 'A lot of terrible things could have happened and didn't.' Dec. 4, 1940 A United Airlines DC-3 laden with ice on its windshield and wings stalled and crashed into a house at 6350 S. Keating Ave. on its second landing attempt at now Midway, killing 10. It's believed to be the first commercial airplane crash in the city. The crash caused the Civil Aeronautics Board to recommend that stall-warning devices be installed on airplanes to let pilots know when they are going too slow to stay aloft and to urge research into ways to reduce icing. March 10, 1948 A Delta Air Lines DC-4 crashed and burned on takeoff from Midway airport. A gust lock, intended to prevent wind damage to the tail's control surfaces when the plane is on the ground, was suspected. Twelve of 13 people on board died. 'Witnesses at the airport said the huge plane took off into a north wind and had a clear field ahead,' the Tribune reported. 'The first hint of trouble was the flare-up and explosion when the plane hit the earth.' July 17, 1955 A Braniff Airways twin-engine Convair 340 trying to land at Midway Airport in fog struck a 15-foot-tall gas station sign at the northwest corner of the airport and crashed, killing 22 and injuring 21. The crash was one of several accidents that prompted the city and federal governments to restrict obstructions and the height of buildings near airports. Aug. 5, 1955 Capt. George A. Stone, the pilot of a Stratocruiser, was credited when all 68 people survived a crash landing in the same area as the Braniff accident. 'Stone told officials of Northwest Orient Airlines that the propellers of the plane failed to reverse as he made a normal landing after a flight from Minneapolis,' the Tribune reported. Sept. 1, 1961 A loose bolt caused one-third of the tail section of a TWA Constellation plane to fall away minutes after takeoff from Midway airport and crash into a farm field near west suburban Clarendon Hills. All 78 people aboard died. Sept. 17, 1961 An improperly installed device to boost power to the wing ailerons that control flight caused a Northwest Orient Airlines Electra to crash after takeoff from O'Hare International Airport. The plane, bound for Florida, rolled to the right then descended, first striking a 34,000-volt power line, then a railroad embankment. 'Turning in … no control,' were the last distinguishable words from the cockpit, the Tribune reported. All 37 people aboard died. Aug. 16, 1965 A United Airlines 727 descending at night to land at O'Hare flew into Lake Michigan about 20 miles east of Lake Forest. Because of an instrument error, the plane apparently descended through its assigned altitude of 6,000 feet with the crew thinking it was at 16,000 feet. All 30 people aboard died. Dec. 27, 1968 Buffeted by wingtip turbulence from a jet that had just taken off, a North Central Airlines Convair 580 lost control while taking off and hit a hangar at O'Hare. Twenty-eight died and 27 others were injured, including several people on the ground. This crash and others prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to require a greater interval between jet aircraft on takeoff and landing. Dec. 8, 1972 Forty-five people died when a United jet crashed into bungalows on West 70th Place while approaching Midway airport for landing. Eighteen aboard the plane survive. 50 years ago, a plane crashed into homes outside Midway, killing 45 people. The neighborhood hasn't forgotten. The crash resulted in some bizarre theories about sabotage after it was discovered that the wife of Watergate conspirator Howard Hunt was one of the victims and she was carrying $10,000 in cash in a briefcase. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found no evidence of foul play and blamed the crash on errors by the pilot, who failed to retract the plane's spoilers, or air brakes, at the critical stage of the descent, causing the plane to stall and crash 1.5 miles short of the runway. Dec. 20, 1972 Two planes collided on a fog-shrouded runway at O'Hare, killing 10 of the 138 aboard. All the victims initially survived the collision, but some were overcome by fumes from the burning North Central Airlines DC-9 jet. Poor communications between controllers and the crew of the Delta Air Lines Convair 880, which caused the Delta plane to taxi across a runway being used by the North Central plane for a takeoff, were cited. The ensuing fire caused federal officials to recommend the use of less toxic materials and better lights in airline cabins. May 25, 1979 At the start of Memorial Day weekend, an American Airlines DC-10 bound for Los Angeles crashed just 31 seconds after takeoff from O'Hare airport. It's still the deadliest passenger airline accident on U.S. soil — 271 people aboard the plane and two more on the ground died. A passenger manifest has never been released by the airline, but Bill and Corrinne Borchers were two of the victims. Today, their children Kim Borchers Jockl and her siblings Melody and Jim have worked to connect friends and family of the victims. They started a Facebook group and published a book about their experiences called 'Safe Landing: A family's journey following the crash of American Airlines Flight 191.' A memorial to the victims was dedicated in 2011 at Lake Park in Des Plaines, less than 2 miles east of the crash site. Oct. 31, 1994 An American Eagle ATR 72 crashed in an Indiana field 60 miles southeast of Chicago after dealing with freezing rain while in a holding pattern for O'Hare. All 68 people aboard were killed. The preliminary investigation indicated the crew lost control after ice built up on the wing behind the de-icing devices. The accident caused the temporary withdrawal of that type of aircraft from service in northern climates until the wing icing problem could be solved. Dec. 8, 2005 A Southwest Airlines plane landing in a snowstorm skidded off the runway at Midway airport, smashed into cars on Central Avenue and killed a 6-year-old boy in a car. Want more vintage Chicago? Thanks for reading!
