Airbubba,
AA's early eighties B737's were courtesy of the Air Cal acquisition.
You're right about the ORD AA DC-10 that lost (literally) an engine at Vr and subsequently rolled on it's back when one wing's slats retracted at V2. Happened in May, 1979. Up until that point, there was a view through the windshield for the pax.
As far as the general discussion re: "safety", if the government really wants to be pro-active and save lives, hospital operating rooms would be a good start. Allegedly, 200,000 people in the US died unnecessarily in 2003, due to operating theatre errors!
Check this out...recently, procedures have been adapted from the airline industry in the hope that surgeons' will be more inclined to carry out the correct surgery on a patient. They have instituted a pilot type checklist in the hope this will reduce mistakes.
Wow, what a leap forward!
As another poster mentions, the medical industry (which obviously has room for immediate improvement) would lobby furiously against such additional "oversight".
DD.