I remember when I was a kid, I used to regularly see DC-9's back themselves
out of gates using the thrust reversers. My understanding was that the only
reason it's not done anymore is because of noise and increased congestion in
the terminal areas.

Anyways, I know it's impossible to say at this point (idle and uniformed
speculation is the whole point of usenet, right?), but I wonder why they
didn't use the thrust reversers to stop the plane once they realized the
brakes were out.

- Ray