
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 6, 1991                   TAG: 9102060622
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DALE CITY                                LENGTH: Medium

HIS FIRST FLIGHT MAY BE HIS LAST

A Virginia man who survived the USAir crash in Los Angeles said it was his first flight and might well be his last.

Dean Pellegrini, 23, of Dale City, was one of 69 people who lived through the crash last Friday that killed 34 others. He escaped with a bruised knee.

Pellegrini was traveling to California to visit some friends when his plane, USAir Flight 1493, collided with a SkyWest commuter plane on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

"The first time I ever got on a plane and I wrecked," he said. "I couldn't believe it happened. I was just going to come out here and have a good time," Pellegrini said Monday night in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.

During the flight, which left Washington National Airport at 2:20 p.m. Friday, Pellegrini was sitting in seat 22-D, in the back, right-hand side of the plane near the tail. That may have saved his life, he said.

When the plane landed, it felt like a normal landing, then he saw flames shoot past him and the plane "sorta bounced up," he said. "I was waiting for it to explode or something. I took off when I saw that fire."

Pellegrini unbuckled his seat belt and stood up in the aisle while the plane was still moving, he said. When it stopped suddenly with a "big bang," he was propelled forward and landed a few seats up, face down in the aisle. "I got up, ran back to my seat and grabbed my bag, grabbed my jacket."

He said he heard a flight attendant yelling "jump" and ran for the back door of the plane. He doesn't remember how the door got open but he was the first one out, he said.

Other passengers were trying to get out of the middle and front doors.

"The whole plane was full of fire and smoke," Pellegrini said. "Once I was out of the plane, there was no way to get back on. The whole thing was on fire. I didn't really get close up to the people who were hurt. I didn't realize it was that bad."

For now, Pellegrini said he has no desire to fly again. He was supposed to return to Virginia on Tuesday, but he said he will wait.

Keywords:
FATALILTY

by CNB