Thursday marks the 47th anniversary of San Diego's first major mid air disaster.
PSA flight 182 crashed into a small plane in the skies over North Park, killing 144 people. The Boeing 727 came down near Dwight and Nile Streets.
135 people on board the Pacific Southwest Airline flight died, along with two in a small cessna, and seven on the ground. Dozens of homes in the North Park neighborhood were destroyed.
A report by the National Transportation Safety Board found the PSA pilots failed to maintain visual separation under the see-and-be-seen rules they were usingThe crash led to changes in air traffic control and air space regulations.
Peter Rowe, a reporter with the San Diego Union Tribune wrote about the crash, and interviewed those who were there, including Dr. Jerry Wisniew, who worked in the temporary morgue established that day.
“I spent 30 years in the naval reserve and was deployed four times to the Persian Gulf,” said Dr. Wisniew. “I saw a lot of trauma, but nothing like what I saw with that airplane crash.”
It is hard to overstate the significance of the PSA crash to San Diegans. That image of the plane falling from the sky was taken by Hans Wendt, a staff photographer for the San Diego County Public Relations Office.
Audio of the final moments of flight 182 is also heartbreaking:
“Tower, we’re going down. This is PSA."
"OK we’ll call the equipment for ya," said an air traffic controller.
Then, the final words we heard from the cockpit: "This is it, baby.”
A remembrance ceremony will be held Thursday morning at 9 at Dwight and Nile streets.