On July 19, 1989, my family (mother, father, brother, and myself) were flying from Honolulu to Denver, and then were traveling from Denver to Chicago when the #2 engine on the DC-10 exploded in mid flight.
Here is a video about the crash.
Flight recorder during the approach.
I remember quite a few details about the crash. I was 6 at the time. Our seats were separated and my mother and brother, whom was 2, were seated in row 17. I had a seat by myself right in front of the movie screen. My father was seated in row 28. When I sat down I had a lot of anxiety because I wasn't beside my father. Fortunately I was lucky to discover the man that was sitting beside my father offered to exchange seats. His name is Jerry Schemmel. (he is the announcer for the Colorado Rockies)
Once I was situated beside my father which was directly in the center, I found myself beside another young boy. He was wearing a red and white striped shirt. During the flight at some point, he had pulled out some of his toy cars. I always thought they were micro machines but my Dad recently told me he had matchbox cars. When I saw that he had his cars out, I got excited and proceeded to pull my micro machines aircraft carrier out of my bookbag, which was blue and black with a little palm tree on it. We started trading cars. I learned that his name was Sean.
About an hour after takeoff, the engine blew. I don't remember the sounds, or this moment in particular. I do remember that I threw up into a white paper bag that a flight attendant provided. This was due to the DC-10 being in a state of phugoid as it was varying it's altitude uncontrollably. It was also making circular motions as it descended.
The signal from the Captain was "brace. brace. brace." Everyone was instructed to tuck into a fetal position opon hearing this on the intercom. I remember when everyone braced, it was easy for me to see out the window as all of the people were not obstructing the view. So my dumbass decides to look out the window on the left side. The plane hit the ground and I remember it turning black and there was fire outside the windows. It was like a silhouette of the cabin and the interior was black and the windows were orange with fire. When it stopped I was hanging upside down and I was scared as hell. There was a ring of fire below me and what appeared to be some type of foil. I frantically reached for my seatbelt but wasn't having any luck getting out of it. What I was doing was trying to press the top of the buckle when I fact there wasn't a button there. It was a release flap. I yelled, "daddy, daddy!...get me out of this stupid seatbelt"!! Fortunately my father heard me and proceeded to extract me out of this fucking hell hole. (I definitely would have been cursing if this happened today) :biggrin: (my dad told me when the plane hit the ground, he said 'what the fuck!!?')
So we both looked at each other and decided to exit the plane out of the door on the left (just kidding, that shit wasn't working) :toocool: The exit on this son of a bitch was out of the rear as the plane had broke apart behind us and there was light. I remember him carrying me in his arm and there were pieces of metal bent and suspended in the air hanging off the fuselage. The lady whom was seated to my father's right was still in the plane. Her name was Cathleen. I remember he turned around and yelled to her,.."come on"!! She didn't want to come for some reason, so he went and pulled her arm. He limped away from the burning wreckage and sat me down in the dirt which was moments ago happily growing corn. I saw a beetle crawling in the dirt near us. My dad was in pain and moaning. His left show was missing. I think it was a black reebok. The skin on the bottom of his foot was peeled back and was fleshy. As we sat there together, (im not sure where Cathleen was at this time as my memory doesn't recall) My dad told me 'son,...I don't think your mother and your brother made it'. We looked at the wreckage and the cornfield and started crying. My dad pulls out of wallet and hands me his drivers license and puts it in my hand. He tells me 'son..hold onto this and don't let this go'.
The scene looking away from the wreckage was a path of debris where the plane went. There was a row of 3 seats that were together and had become detached from the DC-10. People were in them and they were laying on their faces with a puddle of blood. I feel like a remember hearing the helicopter and the sirens from the ambulances and fire trucks. I do remember the red fire truck that rolled up to the wreckage. It was kind of intimidating and scary looking for some reason. I guess because I was little and 6 years old. The size of the airport fire truck must have scared me or added to the fear that was already in place.
They put my dad on a stretcher and I walked beside him. They loaded him onto an ambulance and they put me in the front. The paramedic looks at me and asks me if I've ever ridden in an ambulance. I forget what my response was. At some point we ended up in the back of a truck with other injured people and I remember being in the city.
In the hospital, I remember the nurses cutting my short off and I was embarrassed about this. I had white and red mickey mouse underwear on. lol At some point, a nurse had recognized that me and this other boy was wearing the same t shirt. The shirts said 'Don't worry, be happy, Hawaii.' It had a smiley face on it. She put the two together and it turned out we, as a family, had all survived. I was asleep I think when this happened and they said my brother crawled up onto the bed beside me. :toocool:
So this past weekend was the 25th anniversary reunion. We all decided it would be nice to attend so we flew to Omaha and then drove up to Sioux City. There were a host of events lined up throughout Friday and sunday. When we arrived at the hotel, the press conference was still happening. My mom said 'go in there!' So we walked to the room and this lady whispers 'are you survivors'?! She got really excited when we said yes and said ok come inside! We will find you some chairs. I sit down and start looking around and I see some familiar faces that I have always seen the past 25 years in interviews. Captain Al Haynes was sitting in the front. Then some responders start talking and it started to hit me. The lady that had found us chairs decides it would be a good time to make us introduce ourselves :what: (I'm sitting there with tears in my eyes and I had put my sun glasses on in the room to hide the tears) I removed them from my eyes and put a sentence together for all to hear. But then after we spoke, the lady across the room announces whom she was. She says they are here for the Feeney's whom perished that day and says the name Sean. I immediately knew whom they were talking about.
After the meeting came to a close, three journalists flocked to where we were sitting and started to gather info. After some tearful interviews, we finally met the captain and Co-pilot. Al Haynes and Bill Records. We met some of the flight attendants. We met the wife of Denny Fitch. We met the other survivors that were there. And then I met Sean's Aunt and Uncle. I'm sure it was a tremendous amount of closure for her and her husband. The ability to learn what he was doing during his final moments of life and what he was wearing must have meant the world. My dad told me over the weekend that when he went to reach for Sean in the burning fuselage, there was nothing but metal where Sean would have been located. I have always wondered what happened to him. It made me realize what was happening that day. We both had a common interest (toy cars) that brought us together. We were starting a friendship. I reflected on this and realized this has happened my entire life. Friendships through common passions. I wonder if he would have been a 'car guy' such as myself.
Here are some photos take I took and my wife took throughout the weekend.
The crew of United Flight 232. The Captain is looking at the camera.
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Al Haynes and Jan Brown. Head flight attendant.
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The crew and survivors.
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The man on the bottom left is the gentleman that pulled my brother out of the plane. They met each other over the weekend for the first time.
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Gentleman in the red was thrown from the plane and was found on the runway suffering major injuries. I think he said he was in the hospital for 7 weeks. At first no one was coming up to him because they thought he was deceased. The guy to his left was seated near my brother. He told me he had some LEGO bricks with him that day and is now a film producer in LA.
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Myself on the left with my brother. Lauren is the lady. She was thrown from the plane and was seated 5 rows behind me. She had a concussion for 10 days and the nurse didn't think she was going to make it. She told me she hasn't known anything about the scene of the crash until this weekend. Her mother and grandmother perished in the crash.
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Our shirts are recreations of the ones we were wearing as kids that day. We are standing on runway 22 at the spot of the impact.
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Al Haynes extending a big thank you to everyone involved.
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Bagpipes = moar tears.
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Before the trip, I thought it would be neat to bring the dc-10 that I had built years ago. I also designed a model of the red fire truck that responded to the scene. This photo is taken on the runway where the spot of the landing gear hit.
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The Captain and co-pilot signed the model. :toocool:
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Some photos from inside the Mid America Air and Transportation museum which was recently built at the site.
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This is the section we were in. My father and myself exited on the left side. My mother and brother on the right.
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The fan disk in the #2 engine that was the cause of the crash. A bad batch of titanium.
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Still breathing. :toocool: The fireman were awesome and invited us to ride in the trucks on the runways and shoot water. They wanted to give us a tour of the station but we were out of time.
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Big thanks to the people that put this event together. I learned how much of an impact this had on the entire community in Sioux City. It brought everyone together. The people are absolutely incredible there. The nurse that brought us together in the hospital came and found us at the hotel which was a very special moment. We also met the videographer that shot the video through the fence of the crash. He said he has always wondered what the people in the plane think when they see the video he shot. I told him thanks for shooting the video and next time I want to see it in 1080 or 4k lol.
I hope you enjoyed the story. Aloha!
