I flew with Don in the same aircraft a few days before the crash. I also knew the captain of the aborting fllight. The Western 737 that delayed clearing 19R expeditiously caused a delay in take off and Don not wanting to go around set up the final peg in the sequence of events. AA bought us in 87 so that is why we closed as did PSA when US Airways bought them.
I agree that crash was caused by an over agressive captain trying to make something work that ended up unworkable because of the abort but all in all we had some very proficient pilots who knew what they were doing. Nobody got hired there with under 5,000 hrs and PIC jet time of at least 1,000 hrs. A few exceptions were made when the Electras were retired to let FE's get qualified for the right seat with required pilot ratings.
Southwest had the same requirements as we did, I am sure because moving to the left seat was a short time and they needed experience to get hired. Automation was primitive then but some of the airlines today are using automation to hire inexperienced pilots and relying on automation to make things work. Not being able to handle a visual approach was unheard of then.