Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 20, 1990 TAG: 9007200121
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SIOUX CITY, IOWA LENGTH: Medium
A memorial service, forced into an airport hangar by heavy rains, coincided with the moment a year ago when the plane tumbled in flames while attempting an emergency landing.
Many cried quietly as the Rev. Gregory Clapper, a United Methodist minister from Le Mars, led the assembled survivors and families of victims in part of the 23rd Psalm. Some survivors described feelings of guilt.
When Air National Guard jets roared off to form a "missing man" formation, some clasped hands over ears and held clenched fists to their mouths.
"It's been an emotional roller coaster for all of us, but even so, the remembering has been an important part of the healing process," said United Capt. Al C. Haynes, who led the crew of the DC-10 in guiding the plane to the airport, where it cartwheeled while attempting an emergency landing.
"Somehow, we must find a way to take them away from our present and make them part of the past," Haynes said.
Many survivors said returning to the site of the crash helped them deal with tragedy.
"I wanted my boys to know that Sioux City is a place where normal things happen, that it's a place of mending as well as catastrophe," said Brownell Bailey of Bowmar, Colo.
Bailey's wife, Francie, was one of 112 people who died when the plane crashed after an engine broke apart, severing a hydraulic system that controlled the plane. There were 296 people aboard during the July 19, 1989 crash.
Survivors and their families, plus Sioux City rescuers, were allowed to walk around the crash site Thursday.
Many of the survivors sought out Haynes to thank him for the job the crew did in guiding the crippled airliner to the airport.
Despite survivors' thanks and praise, Haynes insisted there were no heroes in the cockpit. But he said some people needed to look up to the crew as part of their healing.
Lori Michaelson used the reunion to put pressure on Congress to require child restraints on airliners. Currently, small children are permitted to sit on their parents' laps.
Michaelson's 11-month-old daughter, Sabrina - ripped from her grasp during the crash - was saved by another passenger. The passenger, Jerry Schemmel of Denver, heard her cries and pulled her from the wreckage.
"Let's have something positive come out of this crash," Michaelson said.
by CNB