I remember when that MD-80 landing occurred - I worked with a couple people who had previously worked at Douglas/MacDac, and still knew people there. Supposedly, after the tail came off, they rushed the aircraft into to a hangar and closed the door before anyone could get any photos. Didn't work, the next weeks Av Week cover photo was a beautiful shot from about 5 o'clock showing the missing tail and various cables and wiring dangling from the rear bulkhead
If I recall correctly, it was an FAA pilot flying and it was intended to be a 'high sink rate' landing - the target sink rate being something like 6 ft./sec., actual sink rate was about twice that
