Remembering The PSA Crash Of 1978
On September 25, 1978, a PSA airliner and a Cessna collided over San Diego. 144 people died in what was then the deadliest U.S plane crash.
The accident is still etched in the memories of San Diegans and now, thirty years later, we ask you to share your memories of the events. What do you remember? What did you feel? What did you see?
Please post your experiences below.
September 27, 2008 at 9:10 am
It was thirty years ago on the 25th, that I lost my best friend, my sister Gale Shapiro. Gale was a new stew on the flight that crashed. Gale just had graduated SDSU in May, and decided to join PSA. Well, 4 four months later that adventure ended in tragedy.
At the time of the accident I was in class at Los Angeles Pierce College. My brother Lee, A Teacher at the school, was called and informed that Gale was in an accident. So, Lee quickly
came to my accounting room, tears running down his face, waving his arms, come here and bring your things, we need to get to San Diego to see if Gale is okay. At that time we weren’t aware that they had no survivors. So we went to get my fiance Roger to drive with us. On the way to Rogers, the radio announced that there were no survivors. My heart sank, and that part to this day has never recovered. Gale has missed out on our Weddings,our children and many family functions over the past 30 years.
. I still to this day,I question the pilot of the small plane, “WHY WERE YOU BLIND FLYING OVER A BUSY AIRPORT”, and to the two PSA pilots, how could you not see the plane….
I lost the best sister and friend in the WHOLE WORLD.
Sheryl Duke
September 25, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I was living in Fayetteville, North Carolina when the phone rang. My now ex-husband, answered the phone and I heard him say something about a mid-air crash, North Park and PSA. I remember screaming as I grabbed the phone from him. When I heard my dad’s voice (my dad was Chuck McClain), I totally broke down. I have always been so gratefull that my dad was not the pilot on that flight, but felt so terrible for all the friends he lost that day. My love and prayers go out to everyone who lost loved ones 3o years ago today. PSA was such a huge part of my life and I am so sad that it is gone. I loved PSA and always will.
September 25, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I remember that day well , my dad my 3 year old son and i were seating on the porch, the small plane crashed into the psa right before our eyes and it fell but the psa kept going, on fire , it was if it were slow motion . my other son was at school and i prayed it would’nt hit the school. Everyone i knew was having nightmares about it . To this day i have not been able to fly again.
September 25, 2008 at 9:20 pm
It was 30 years ago when my husband and I met for the first time. I worked at a local bank and can still see the smoke in the sky, my husband at the time was driving by the North Park area and remembers seeing all the smoke. My father-in-law was a Sargeant with the SDPD, his job was securing the crime scene, which he said was the most horrible thing he had ever seen. He never talked about it much, but we could tell it really bothered him. My husband’s grandfather lived in North Park and was out taking a walk when the crash happened, part of the engine fell off and crashed to the ground just one block from where he was walking. This was a truly horrible day in San Diego, and a day I nor my husband will ever forget.
September 25, 2008 at 7:37 pm
I was a stew at PSA, I got a call from my mom at 9:30, she just said, I’m so glad you answered and she told me to turn on the tv. My husband to be, a pilot for PSA was due home at the same time, thankfully he was on the plane that had left LAX 20 minutes later, but I wouldn’t know that for hours as the phone lines were jammed. My girlfriend, also a stew who introduced me to my future husband, was on there, we were supposed to meet for raquetball. We lost so many co-workers/friends. I will never forget that day. I think about them often. We were all trained how to survive a crash but they never had a chance. I have all of them in my heart.
September 25, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I was at the junction of 805 & 8 when I heard about the crash and looked up the hill to see the billowing smoke. I lived about 3 blocks from the crash site. I remember how hot it was the next 2 weeks and listening to the cranes picking up the parts of the planes and the dump trucks driving those parts out of the area. They worked morning, noon and all night. The stench of death was so present in the air. The hot temperature lasted days…
September 25, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I had worked with 3 of the girls at Fashion Conspiracy Paula,Maxine and Andrea. I will never forget the necklace that Andrea used to wear it said LIVE LOVE LAUGH…. I think of the three of them often and will never forget them. I know Andrea was afraid to fly but they were going to be taking a trip to the Orient on a buying mission. Andrea always took the train down from Los Angeles but this time she was talked into flying so she could get over her fear. How sad it was that their lives ended that day on that plane.
September 25, 2008 at 3:32 pm
I lived about 8 blocks from the impact site, I was 17yrs old. when I heard the boom I knew something big had happened, I jumped on my motorcycle and drove towards the smoke, I’ll never forget the scene when I arrived there. SDPD officers were just beginning to arrive.I remember walking up to one in tears asking what I could do to help. He said the best thing I could do was leave the area,which I did.I was only there for a few moments and the things I saw I’ve never forgotten, my heart goes out to the emergency personnel that stayed and handled the situation. I’m sure none of them were the same after that day. One thing for sure they are all Heroes to me.
September 25, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I was 8 months pregnant and was at my parents home when I got a call from my mother. She was at Villa View Hospital Emergency room with my Grandmother. They were getting ready to recieve passengers from the crash. Putting up cots in the hallways, calling in extra people, etc.
No one ever came. My Grandmother passed away in that hospital 4 days later.
September 25, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I was at work on the 10th floor of a building on 5th Ave when the two planes collided. It was one of the most devastating things I had seen since, I was about 9 years old in Burbank when I saw a small plane crash into a house behinds my grandparents home. The sheer helplessness you feel stays with you a long time.
September 25, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I was living in Santee and going to Santana High School when the PSA plane crashed over a North Park neighborhood. As a teenager I was not sure of the scope of the disaster until it came eerily close. Another student whom I went to school with was tragically touched by the the crash, his sister was one of the flight attendants in training that was killed in the downed plane. It was this accident and his loss that prompted the school to close for the day. I often wonder what has happened to the families that lost loved ones and how they have coped over the years.
September 25, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I was at University of San Diego High School on this date in 1978. I remember being with friends when I heard a big boom sound and the earth shake under my feet. My friends and I looked south from our campus on the hill, to see a big plume of smoke. When I went into my next class- I heard over the intercome system that a plane had gone down in North Park. All our class were asked to pray for all on the plane and everyone touched by this event.
September 25, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I remember being 17 and riding the number 7 bus towards North Park. I seen the big cloud of black smoke but didn’t see the planes crash. I remember asking myself what the heck the black smoke was. I got home and told my mom what I had seen and she told me a PSA plane crashed 1/2 block from my Aunt Alma’s home. Fortunately her house was not hit nor were there any debris in her yard. Why it missed her completely, we will never know.
Now whenever I drive down Nile St., I think of all who had lost their lives and for the people on the ground who had to go thru that. When I fly into San Diego, all I can think of is the plane that crashed many years ago and pray nothing like that ever happens again.
September 25, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I was an 18 year old Marine Recruit at MCRD. We had been taking our final physical fitness test before graduation when we all witnessed the mid-air crash from start to finish. It caused me great concern because my parents were flying out for the graduation. It was a strong memory for a young man to witness.
September 25, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I still have a little fear as I sometimes look up in the sky as airplanes approach our airport.
On that morning, I was driving back from Mesa College because my class was cancelled due to the teacher’s illness. Ordinarily, I would have stayed on campus but I decided to go home. I was on Interstate 805 south getting ready to merge onto Interstate 8 going east when something caught my eye. It was a sight I’ll never forget. Directly in front of me was the PSA airplane on fire. I remember saying to myself, “I hope it makes it back to the airport safely”.
But to no avail, I literally stopped before reaching the ramp to watch in horror as the plane headed down and down until I could feel the earth tremble and watch the smoke rise. By then, I was so mortified, I could only step on the gas and try get a grip of myself to drive. As I was merging onto Interstate 8 going east, I spotted a police officer writing a ticket to someone on the side of the road. I thought about stopping and telling him to look over his shoulder and attend to the plane crash instead of writing a ticket. I could not, I did not have the strength to pull over. I guess I was in shock. I wanted to in my heart go to the scene immediately, but my instinct was to avoid the area. I can go on and on about that fateful day, but I try not to remember, because it brings back painful memories of I what I witnessed, but mostly what people and families lost that sorrowful day.
September 25, 2008 at 11:53 am
I remember growing up as a kid and hearing stories about this unfortunate piece of history from my dad. I’ve never seen a picture of the plane until today. It gives me chills to know that this wasn’t so far from home.
He was 15 at the time and basically born and raised in North Park. My grandma still lives there. I don’t think she’ll ever move.
My dad lived on Felton Street and he was blocks away from the crash when it happened. He was riding his bike with a buddy and tried to get home to check on his house and family. He was stopped by a police officer who was helping to keep the area clear and told the officer where he was headed. The officer made him rattle of his address real quick as proof that my dad wasn’t just trying to see what had happened.
He tells me how he remembers seeing bodies in trees. I can’t even imagine… I think it’s very nice that there is a memorial for this incident. My heart and prayers go out to all those affected by this crash. May those souls who did not survive rest in peace.
September 25, 2008 at 11:45 am
I lived in a small condo in La Jolla. I was lucky because next door were two gorgeous PSA “stewardesses” and their visitors were just as exciting to see. Anyhow, one morning my phone rang and it was one of the girls next door crying. She told me that there had been a crash here in San Diego and her friends were killed. I felt helpless except to keep her talking and offer to stay closeby to help in any way. I went to the funerals and soon the girls moved away and PSA was purchased. PSA had the best looking, friendliest and smartest stewardesses in the sky! I miss seeing PSA’s building everytime I go to the airport. God Bless you all!
September 25, 2008 at 11:41 am
Greetings,
Thirty years ago, while I was at work at Lindbergh Field, I was in the
the restaurant in the employee section (in back by the windows). I was
sitting and watching the airplanes as I
drank a cup of coffee.
I saw a plane in the pattern flying down wind before making its right
turn to line up with the
runway. I saw a flash of light and smoke and the plane make a curving
arc as it headed to
the ground. I saw only the one plane, but I immediately knew that
something happened to
the plane I was watching. I watch the plane lose altitude as it hurled
toward the ground, hoping beyond hope that the plane would pull up. As
the plane got closer to the ground, I realized
I was watching people in the process of dying and there was nothing I
could do to stop it
from happening. I just sat there, stunned, as I watched the event
unfold. The trail of smoke
disappeared behind the hills and a plume of smoke rose from the crash
site. I cannot recall seeing what hit the airliner, I only remember
watching it dive for the ground. It was a little later
that I found out that a small plane had hit it.
At the time, I didn’t know whose airline it was. I exited the coffee
shop and spotted a friend
who worked for American Airlines and told him what I just saw. We both
went out through the
AA ticket counter and bagroom to the ramp where we saw the plume of
smoke.
It was not to long before we learned that it was PSA that crashed. My
heart went out to the crew
and passengers on board. It seemed the world came to a stop for us at
the airport.
That day and the next few were filled with imagines of the event on TV
and in the newspapers.
Now it is thirty years later and now that I have been reminded of this
tragic event, I can clearly see in my mind the crash replay like an
endless tape. In today’s San Diego Union Tribune (09/22/08)
is a story on the front page about this event and the that there is a
movie being made about it. I think you can access the whole article from
today’s paper at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/.....22psa.html
Though we work for different airlines, we are still an airline family.
We do what we can to help each other in times of need. I think one of
the things we (Western Airlines employees) did was to send flowers to
PSA.
It has been a while since I thought about this event. I don’t know if
that is a good thing or a bad thing.
Mike Witt, Retired
WA/DL 1963/1994
LAX/SLC/SAN
September 25, 2008 at 11:30 am
Seems as if it happened yesterday. Seeing that picture takes you right back to that dreadful day. How it changed our lifes forever. May all those who lost their lives on flight 182 and on the ground rest in peace. There is hardly a day I don’t think about that crash and all those wonderful PSA people aboard.