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

DATE: MONDAY, March 23, 1992                   TAG: 9203230103
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

USAIR JET CRASH KILLS AT LEAST 15

A USAir commuter jet carrying 51 people crashed in a snowstorm Sunday after an aborted takeoff from La Guardia Airport, skidding part way into frigid Flushing Bay. Police said at least 15 people were killed.

Sgt. John Murphy of the Port Authority police said eight others were missing and 28 people were known to have survived. Mayor David Dinkins said in an interview from the scene that rescue workers believed the eight missing were dead inside the submerged part of the wreckage.

Survivors with serious burns were taken to hospitals by helicopter.

An eyewitness said the plane left the ground, then fell back and burst into a "huge fireball."

"It looked like the sun coming up," said Manny Dias, another witness. "The sky lit up. It was just about to take off. It just exploded."

USAir Flight 405, bound for Cleveland, skidded down the runway about 9:30 p.m., said Fire Department spokesman Jerry Sanford. It had been scheduled to take off at 7:30 p.m.

Nearly three hours after the crash, helicopters were hovering over the bay, searching for more survivors. Other workers using metal-cutting equipment were heard prying open the wreckage of the plane in the water.

USAir spokeswoman Lynn McCloud in Arlington, Va., said there were 51 people on the jet, including 47 passengers, two pilots and two flight attendants.

Port Authority police told reporters that the plane veered left at the end of the runway and hit a snow-covered barricade just before the water. The nose, wing and engine snapped off while the rest of the plane was in the water with its top sheared off.

The aircraft was an F-28 4000 commuter jet, USAir spokesman John Bronson said.

Light snow had been falling since about 5 p.m.

McCloud, the USAir spokesman, said the temperature was 31 degrees, the wind 15 mph and the runway was wet with patches of snow.

On Sept. 20, 1989, a USAir flight bound for Charlotte, N.C., skidded off a La Guardia runway into the East River, killing Ayles Brogan, 68, of Vinton, Va., and her daughter-in-law, Betsy Hayter Brogan of Tennessee.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB