Weather: clear, visibility: good. Take-off runway was two-eight, landing runway one-six, alternate one-four.
Tower: Alitalia 194, you are cleared to taxi to runway two-eight; line up and hold. Expect take-off clearance shortly.
AZ194: Ahhh, yes, taxi to two-eight-a and hold-a
after 30 seconds … Tower: Alitalia 194, cleared for take-off
AZ194: Ahhh, two minutes, need-a preflight checks
again 30 seconds later … Tower: ALITALIA ONE-NINE-FOR, YOU ARE CLEARED FOR TAKE OFF NOW.
AZ194: Ehmmm, yes, yes, take off-a in two minutes …
In the mean time: runway one-six had a 737 with a wheel emergency and was blocked. All traffic had to use one-four. An approaching 767 from Cincinnati was guided downwind to land on two-eight. Its crew had been airborne for more than eight hours …
Tower:Alitalia 194, expedite take-off, we have a Delta 767 on final two-eight 2 miles!
AZ194: Ahhh, we need-a dirty more-a seconds…
DL104: Hey Spaghetti, take-off now or I’ll fuck you from behind!
… and AZ194 was taking off – gracefully like a Space Shuttle…