Con-pilot,
I did know about that accident back when it happened, mostly because I had been flying the DC-9-50 as captain a few years before that and used to have the habit of revewing accident reports in aircraft I have flown. I stilll do that sometimes even though I don't fly anything at this point.
In all honesty I did not recall that accident when I first heard about this Lear down at FLL but I have since reviewed the accident report. Scary that one especially since both pilots were captain qualified in the type and current. Sometimes weird stuff happens in airplanes.
Whenever I get that "bold" feeling to which we pilots are often prone, I've always tried to remember this often used phrase:
Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect. — Captain A. G. Lamplugh (a Brit), ca 1930.
Luckily, that quotation helped a great deal in keeping me out of the trees.