Originally Posted by
longisland
UAL had either 20 or 25 of the 727-100QC (Quick Change) model. Pax seats on pallets or air freight tied down to pallets. The pallets with the passenger seats were stored in a big van like mobile unit.
One of them crashed on takeoff from KORD (1968?) and was demolished. The 3 pilot crew was injured but all survived. Inadvertent selection of 2deg flaps vice 5deg for takeoff.
The ORD 727QC crash was United 9963 on March 21, 1968. It was the classic 'ignore the takeoff warning horn' mishap which sadly would be repeated several times in the years to follow.
See:
https://www.tailstrike.com/210368.htm