It was the night of Jan 25 1990 @ 9:34 pm. I was in the woods on a house call when this Jet came out of the sky and crashed. It was the Avianca flight 52 that came from Columbia and it was trying to land at Kennedy.There were aprox 158 people on board with many being kids brought to this country for adoption. This was LI NY worst disaster until flight 800 7 yrs later. Nobody new the plane was down. They only new it went off the radar. When I get onto Tennis court RD where John McEnroe and his wife at the time Tatem Oneal lived a cop with 30 + yrs on tells me there may be a small plane in the woods and he asked for 1 ambulance. Since it was a warm day for winter around 55 degree's with dense fog and thunder all around nobody heard this plane hit. The cop stayed at the end of the road to direct traffic up to the site. Me and this neighbor who was a Pilot decide to walk thru the woods and the further along we got we knew it was trouble. You can't see anything because the dense Fog was causing the light to reflect back into our eyes but you could here the screams from the ground up to the tree's.
As we got closer with my flash light we can now see a line which is the perimeter of the plane. This is bad. Its still just the two of us. We go closer and now we can see it all. The Plane sheered the top of the trees and crossed over the road and broke into 3 parts. One was right in front of us on the road while the other part was on the hill and the cockpit in someones back yard on top of the hill. I look up I see kids in there seats blasted high into the tree's screeming. The noise all around was deafening and oh so very heartbreaking. So me and this guy do an about face and run back to where the cops and fireman were heading. Along the way we run right thru snapped electical pole wires that if they touch you, your cooked. We did not care. Now on this tape your going to hear my partner 24 seconds in saying what it is that we found. Now remember I know nothing about Jets but the guy with me is a pilot. You can hear me in the background telling Eddie its a Commerical Jet thats a 747 which that Pilot told me it was cause he was in shock. Thank God it wasn't because a 747 is twice the size of a 727 but still it was a disaster times 100. (if you put this link on the big screen you can see me at the 222 second mark in the back of the picture with my sleeves rolled up and flashlight in hand.)
At that point me and this Fire Chief race back to the Jet as the fire trucks are coming. We climb into the Jet and walk around. The many kids on that plane were in total shock causing them to play hiding go seek in the Fusa lodge. They were oblivious. In the Middle of the plane many adults were dead. Up by the Cockpit the whole crew died. One of them I was standing on unkowingly at first because I was standing on a piece of metal and she was underneath it. Next thing you know the Fireman drop there hoses and run away like crazy as does the cops and civilians there to help. I get the word in there from the chief that an engine is smoking and now we see it. You smell fuel all over the place because they plane ran out of that. So where in trouble. The plane is going to blow skyhigh and Me and this Chief Todd are still in the plane with everyone else. I look at Todd and I'll never forget what I said "Nice knowing you man". So him and I climb down further in the plane to get the kids out. ThankGod and I mean this with all my heart..the plane did not explode. Some say it was an act of God because an empty Jet Fuel tank and burning smoke= explosion.
This story is long so I'll shortened here. From what I understand just about all the kids live. Awhile later some of the drug carriers where pooping out balloons carrying Cocaine. The entire Crew died and they were mostly faulted because they didnt make it urgent enough while in the holding pattern that they were running out of fuel. I look it as they can't defend themselves cause there dead and also seeing the way the Pilot landed this plane they were more like Heroe's cause Kennedy kept denying them to land and they landed that Jet as good as you can in a darkened night and sacrificing yourself in doing this. 85 people died but just about all the kids lived.
To get the story as to what happened I found a girl who was ejected at least 100' from the jet and she landed by a tree which she sat up against. I found her and she spoke very good english. She gave the story as to what happened in there. She was a saint and I wish I could have met her again. From what I understood she at most broke an ankle. So somebody else was wastching over her also.
K just thought I would tell one of my darkest and saddest days and also one of the most rewarding days because of all the people that we helped by doing our job as Police and Fireman and Civilians should.
It was the night of Jan 25 1990 @ 9:34 pm. I was in the woods on a house call when this Jet came out of the sky and crashed. It was the Avianca flight 52 that came from Columbia and it was trying to land at Kennedy.There were aprox 158 people on board with many being kids brought to this country for adoption. This was LI NY worst disaster until flight 800 7 yrs later. Nobody new the plane was down. They only new it went off the radar. When I get onto Tennis court RD where John McEnroe and his wife at the time Tatem Oneal lived a cop with 30 + yrs on tells me there may be a small plane in the woods and he asked for 1 ambulance. Since it was a warm day for winter around 55 degree's with dense fog and thunder all around nobody heard this plane hit. The cop stayed at the end of the road to direct traffic up to the site. Me and this neighbor who was a Pilot decide to walk thru the woods and the further along we got we knew it was trouble. You can't see anything because the dense Fog was causing the light to reflect back into our eyes but you could here the screams from the ground up to the tree's.
As we got closer with my flash light we can now see a line which is the perimeter of the plane. This is bad. Its still just the two of us. We go closer and now we can see it all. The Plane sheered the top of the trees and crossed over the road and broke into 3 parts. One was right in front of us on the road while the other part was on the hill and the cockpit in someones back yard on top of the hill. I look up I see kids in there seats blasted high into the tree's screeming. The noise all around was deafening and oh so very heartbreaking. So me and this guy do an about face and run back to where the cops and fireman were heading. Along the way we run right thru snapped electical pole wires that if they touch you, your cooked. We did not care. Now on this tape your going to hear my partner 24 seconds in saying what it is that we found. Now remember I know nothing about Jets but the guy with me is a pilot. You can hear me in the background telling Eddie its a Commerical Jet thats a 747 which that Pilot told me it was cause he was in shock. Thank God it wasn't because a 747 is twice the size of a 727 but still it was a disaster times 100. (if you put this link on the big screen you can see me at the 222 second mark in the back of the picture with my sleeves rolled up and flashlight in hand.)
At that point me and this Fire Chief race back to the Jet as the fire trucks are coming. We climb into the Jet and walk around. The many kids on that plane were in total shock causing them to play hiding go seek in the Fusa lodge. They were oblivious. In the Middle of the plane many adults were dead. Up by the Cockpit the whole crew died. One of them I was standing on unkowingly at first because I was standing on a piece of metal and she was underneath it. Next thing you know the Fireman drop there hoses and run away like crazy as does the cops and civilians there to help. I get the word in there from the chief that an engine is smoking and now we see it. You smell fuel all over the place because they plane ran out of that. So where in trouble. The plane is going to blow skyhigh and Me and this Chief Todd are still in the plane with everyone else. I look at Todd and I'll never forget what I said "Nice knowing you man". So him and I climb down further in the plane to get the kids out. ThankGod and I mean this with all my heart..the plane did not explode. Some say it was an act of God because an empty Jet Fuel tank and burning smoke= explosion.
This story is long so I'll shortened here. From what I understand just about all the kids live. Awhile later some of the drug carriers where pooping out balloons carrying Cocaine. The entire Crew died and they were mostly faulted because they didnt make it urgent enough while in the holding pattern that they were running out of fuel. I look it as they can't defend themselves cause there dead and also seeing the way the Pilot landed this plane they were more like Heroe's cause Kennedy kept denying them to land and they landed that Jet as good as you can in a darkened night and sacrificing yourself in doing this. 85 people died but just about all the kids lived.
To get the story as to what happened I found a girl who was ejected at least 100' from the jet and she landed by a tree which she sat up against. I found her and she spoke very good english. She gave the story as to what happened in there. She was a saint and I wish I could have met her again. From what I understood she at most broke an ankle. So somebody else was wastching over her also.
K just thought I would tell one of my darkest and saddest days and also one of the most rewarding days because of all the people that we helped by doing our job as Police and Fireman and Civilians should.
Share this post
Link to post
Share on other sites