I was a 20-year-old CFI at Bel-Air Aviation at Long Beach, California, right at the foot of the then-new control tower, watching the first DC-10s undergo flight test. Several of my primary students were McD-D engineers who had been working on the DC-10.
In August 1971, the first two DC-10s were delivered to customers, one to American and one to United. Douglas employees had the day off, and the airport perimeter was jammed with spectators. VIPs were shuttled out to the middle of the airport, close to runway 12/30, to watch the airplanes take off (we’d been watching DC-10s take off for months, so this was no big deal for us). Runway 12 was in use. The AA airplane taxied out from the Douglas ramp and took off, to the oohs and aahs of the assembled multitude. Then the UA airplane taxied out. It rolled majestically down the runway, rotated and … then the nose came back down, spoilers and reversers deployed, and the airplane coasted ignominiously down to the southeast end of the runway. VIPs cleared their throats and looked around nervously.
We heard later that the captain aborted the takeoff because his window was not properly latched. Thus began the DC-10’s star-crossed career.