Local papers reported at the time that dazed surviving passengers departed the aircraft after impact. Most of the aircraft was still intact after impact from what I could remember.

--ddynk

Yes, I remember this very well. I was married at the time and I remember hearing about the crash on the radio at work. I called my wife at home and asked her if she heard about it and if her cousin, Andy, was alright. He was a pilot for United and lived in Alexandria, VA. He was scheduled for that flight out of Washington National, but switched with another pilot, I think his last name was Whitehouse.

At any rate, my wife told me that Andy was fine, and had arrived at O'Hare shortly after the crash. Of course, he wasn't told of the crash until after he landed at O'Hare, and my wife told me that he was pretty shook up about it after he was told what happened. I remember that there was a lot of talk in Chicago about closing the airport at Midway following the crash. Yes, that was a very tragic night.

--phudnall

I remember this accident quite vividly and seeing the live TV feeds throughout that evening. You could clearly see the United tail prominently in the wreckage. Another prominent victim was Michelle Clark, who was an up-and-coming reporter for WBBM-TV (Channel 2) when she perished in the crash. There's a school in the Chicago area named in her memory.

--Anonymous