Last Updated: January 27, 2010

Twenty Years Ago: Avianca Flight 52

• LC Colgate
It is hard to believe that the crash of Avianca Flight 52 took place twenty years ago this week. This regularly scheduled flight, from Bogota, Colombia, to New York’s JFK International Airport, came down in Cove Neck on January 25. The entire North Shore community was affected as rescue crews from all local fire departments, police departments and hospitals were mobilized.
Because of the foggy conditions at JFK, the plane was put in a holding pattern, where it began to burn through its reserve fuel supply. After circling for well over an hour, the air traffic control tower learned from the first officer that the plane would only be able to hold for an astounding five more minutes. They were cleared for landing but encountered wind shear and had to circle back around in an attempt to land again. At that time, the engines began to flame out, one by one. Soon, the generators were gone and the aircraft lost its thrust which caused it to plunge in the dark into Cove Neck.
It was a warm, foggy and particularly dark January night, and one eyewitness said she ran up the steep hill because her son was on a plane that evening and she was fearful it was his plane. As she got closer to the calamity, she literally found herself stepping over bodies. When she came to the main portion of the plane, she saw survivors of the crash with their faces pressed up against the windows. They had looks of absolute terror upon their faces. Miraculously, 85 of the 149 passengers and one crew member lived through the cataclysmic event.
Phil Hills, who was renovating a home in the area, was amazed and impressed with the quick response of the emergency personnel and the magnitude of local rescue support. When he arrived at the scene of the accident on the morning of January 26, he noted that there were plane parts everywhere and the density of the woods had made for an exceedingly difficult rescue operation. Victims were being carried down the steep hill toward a triage area set-up near the water. A primary morgue was set up on the front lawn of tennis star John McEnroe’s parents house.
After the investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the accident was due to pilot error.
In an emotional event, several survivors gathered at St. Dominic’s Church in Oyster Bay on January 24 for a special commemorative Mass. They were joined with mental health workers and first responders.

 

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