And for those who doubt, the following shows American crews can do it right;
NTSB Identification: CHI04IA260
Scheduled 14 CFR Part 121: Air Carrier operation of AMERICAN AIRLINES INC
Incident occurred Thursday, September 16, 2004 in Chicago, IL
Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82, registration: N253AA
Injuries: 112 Uninjured.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.
On September 16, 2004, at 1415 central daylight time, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-9-82, N253AA, operated by American Airlines as flight 1374, encountered a flock of birds after takeoff from runway 4L at Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, Illinois. Damage resulted in a left engine fire which was successfully extinguished by the flight crew. The captain declared an emergency and the flight returned to ORD, landing on runway 32L at 1419. Chicago Fire Department personnel reported that the engine fire had been extinguished when they first observed the aircraft on landing rollout. The domestic air carrier flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 121 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the incident. No injuries were reported by the 5 crew members and 107 passengers. The flight departed ORD with an intended destination of Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Just goes to show that we only remember the bad stuff.