“Memories that Will Never Go Away”
The 40th Anniversary of the Crash of PSA Flight 182
by Alexander D. Bevil,
Thurs., Nov. 15, 7pm
at Water’s Edge Faith Community
1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., O.B
Everyone’s invited to the the Ocean Beach Historical Society’s monthly program, “Memories that Will Never Go Away,” the 40th anniversary of the crash of PSA Flight 182, presented by Alexander Bevil, an award-winning local free-lance historian, writer and preservationist.
Bevil’s presentation will be based on his recently published Journal of San Diego History article on the Sept. 25, 1978 crash of PSA Flight 182, and the effect it had—and still has—on San Diego’s collective memory. He will also discuss how the crash’s aftermath contributed to major changes in modern commercial air travel safety rules and procedures; and he will invite attendees to share their memories of that horrific day.
For the past 30 years Alexander Bevil has played an active role in identifying and preserving several San Diego historic landmarks. His National Register nomination reports have helped preserve University Heights’ Georgia Street Bridge and the Normal School Teacher Training Building, and the iconic “Tin Man” water tower in North Park.
Please join the OB Historical Society for the November 15th at 7 PM presentation at Water’s Edge Faith Community, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.
More at: 182-Crash
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This is something I don’t think about. Used to wake up with nightmares for a couple of years after especially when the jets were thundering overhead in the flight pattern over MB in the mornings.
I had taken the bus that morning from Lido Ct. in Mission Beach where I lived to North Park to score some pot from a dealer I knew. Had to skate a few blocks from the bus stop to the street he lived on, and got there about 8:30 that morning. It was four blocks from where the planes came down. We ran outside at the huge blast that rattled the windows and I skated towards the smoke and fire.
I was the longhaired surfer on the Sims 44″ longboard skateboard that you can probably see in some of the videos before all the cops arrived and threatened to arrest me (and everybody else) if I didn’t leave. Before that it was a madhouse. People were either standing and crying or running around acting frantic and screaming; throwing up (me, too); pieces of people and smoke and stink and busted pieces of stuff everywhere; in trees, on lawns, on cars, in the street. Body parts in my memory.
I remember saying to myself that this is what my Uncle Kenny in Vietnam wrote to my stepmom about. This is what he didn’t want me to see. This was what a war zone must look like. And smell like.
I didn’t get on a plane again until 1992. I’ve flown a total of four times since 1978 and two of those were a round trip to the Islands in 1998. I got airsick every time and probably from memory-stress. Did the other people that were on the streets that morning end up with something like PTSD?
Even up here in the mountains forty years later I still look up when I hear a plane go by overhead to see if it is falling. It’s kind of…a reaction in my head that I think of that first thing.
Why hasn’t that airport been moved? Did they learn NOTHING from this? It’s still one of the most dangerous airports in the country! But the city keeps rolling the dice as if they are immune to another tragic crash like this one. Relying on luck just isn’t a real smart strategy I’m thinking. But then, who said politicians were intelligent?
Lindberg Field has bigger jets and more traffic than ever I’m guessing so it really is a matter of when not if. That there hasn’t been another since 1978 is pretty surprising…
sealintheSelkirks