I still remember being able to see the billowing black smoke all the way from our house — 20 miles east of the crash. Now I live only a few miles away from where the crash happened and always feel uncomfortable if I’m near that area. I know people who saw the flash of the collision as it happened mid-air. I know people who say that area is haunted — who’ve seen weird things at night there. For anyone living in SD at the time, this is a story that seeped into your consciousness. It’s just there and you can’t make it go away — that weird power of shared but clouded memory, the myth and lore that build up around it.
You know, based on where they crashed, I’d say both planes were less than two minutes from landing safely at Lindbergh Field. They crashed in less than 20 seconds. They were that close to the ground.
So sad. So unnecessary.
(Disturbing photo in the link. Be forewarned.)
I was 5 years old and living in Santee on that day. I remember all of the stories of body parts falling and awful, awful things that a child should never hear. It was impossible to escape. I remember being so sad that it was one of the “smiley face” planes that crashed. I look back on that day and think… this is why I’m not the world’s best flier. Anyway, thank you for remembering… there is this strange kinship, isn’t there?
Melissa — Yeah, one of the smiley face planes. I remember. It’s so sad to me how close they all were to being safe on the ground.
I remember this accident, although I lived in Michigan at the time it happened. Years later, when I was stationed in SD and Camp Pendleton, I would fly PSA from SD back home to Sacramento.
PSA was a great airline.
(came her via caraellison) Love that you’re a SD blogger. My home town.
In 1963 I lived in the flight path, just blcoks from where the plane crashed in 1978. I vividly remember the front page of the Union one day showing my house, and the entire neighborhood, covered in a shadow of a plane on approach. They were questioning the safety of it all even back then.
I will never forget the day of the crash. What a tragedy.