i remember like it was yesterday.
Aeroméxico Flight 498, en route from Mexico City, Mexico to Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California, United States on August 31, 1986.
N4891F was a privately-operated Piper PA-28-181 Archer owned by the Kramer family en route from Torrance to Big Bear City, California. The two aircraft collided in mid-air over Cerritos, California, killing all 67 aboard both aircraft and 15 people on the ground. In addition, 8 persons on the ground sustained minor injuries from the crash.
The Piper aircraft, N4891F, with the pilot and two passengers aboard, had departed Torrance, California at approximately 11:40 PST. At approximately 11:46, Flight 498 began its descent into Los Angeles with 58 passengers and six crew members aboard. At 11:52, the Piper's engine collided with the left horizontal stabilizer of the DC-9, shearing off the top of the Piper's cockpit and decapitating the pilot and both passengers.[citation needed] The heavily-damaged Piper fell onto an empty playground at Cerritos Elementary School.
The DC-9 inverted and fell to the earth in a residential neighborhood at Holmes Avenue and Reva Circle in Cerritos, killing 15 on the ground and all 64 passengers and crew. The impact and fire destroyed five houses and damaged seven more. A fire sparked by the crash contributed significantly to the damage. When the air traffic controller assigned to Flight 498 could not find the aircraft on the radar, he called up an inbound American Airlines jet for assistance. The pilot on American Airlines Flight 333 replied that he saw a large smoke plume off to his left, indicating that Flight 498 had crashed.
On March 11, 2006, the City of Cerritos dedicated a new sculpture garden featuring a memorial to the victims of the accident. As part of the sculpture is a bench which also allows visitors to sit and reflect on the disaster.
My father was on the Aeromexico plane. This happened on my 24th birthday. I recall seeing it on TV all day, thinking what a shame. Then found out that night that he was on it. I remember it all too well.
ReplyDeletewow~! oh my dear... my heart is with you.. thank you so much for sharing
ReplyDeleteThank you, and you're welcome. I think about it often, and today a friend and I were discussing it, so I googled it to see what I might find and -- voila! -- I came across your blog. My father's name is on that memorial -- he's the sixth one down on the left side of the larger wing (Thomas Basye). He and his best friend (Manuel Guzman) loved fishing, and joined four of Manuel's relatives on that flight...so Manuel's family lost five people that day.
ReplyDeletehave you flown since this life-changing event? i wonder what you think about films like 'FLIGHT"? i recently posted it and other air disasters. i've never been in one, but someone i can't stop watching.
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