I haven’t told this story in a long time, but it is one that I remember every detail like it was yesterday.
In the summer of 1989, my wife, daughter (age 11), son (age 6) and I spent a week vacation at Keystone Resort in Colorado. Keystone, a winter ski area, was also a summer resort with lots of activities for adults and kids. We all loved it. After a great week there, we headed home. Our return flight from Denver back to Philadelphia was on Wednesday, July 19.
Our Denver to Philadelphia flight was United Flight 494. There was another United flight to Philadelphia about 90 minutes earlier, a one-stop through Chicago, but since we were driving down from Keystone that day, the later departure of 494 and the fact it was a non-stop was desirable. Flight 494 was a DC10 – a great plane and something I bragged about to our friends and family before we left. As far as our family and friends knew, were coming home from Denver July 19 on a United DC10. We also would have been OK on the earlier flight, and came close to having to book it because 494 was nearly sold out when we booked. That flight was also a DC10. It was United Flight 232.
We departed Denver on time. The flight was uneventful through landing at Philadelphia. As we taxied to the gate, a flight attendant made an ominous PA announcement. She asked that all passengers remain seated after we stop at the gate because the captain had some important information for us before we got off. Her voice was clearly choked with emotion. No one budged when we pulled into the gate.
After parking at the gate, the captain came on the PA. He announced, in a calm business-like manner, that another Philadelphia-bound United flight had made an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa. Because of that, the Philadelphia terminal had been closed to all but passengers with tickets (rare pre 9/11) and that anyone meeting us would be waiting outside security. He also added that we should be aware that there would be a large presence of news media outside security. He then asked for several parties he mentioned by name to remain on board (I later found out why).
1989 was before smart phones and even cell phones, so I had no idea what had happened or why an "emergency landing" by another flight in Sioux City would require special security arrangements and media attention in Philadelphia. The airside terminal, with no visitors, was very quiet. However, the public side of security was a mob scene with news crews and cameras and barely enough room to squeeze through the crowd. I overheard conversations and then realized what had happened. The other flight was Flight 232, and the "emergency landing" was a crash landing and over 100 were feared dead. Then it also occurred to me that as far as our family and friends knew, we were on that flight.
My mother heard about Flight 232 when they broke into regular Philadelphia TV programming with the new bulletin. She heard United, a DC10 from Denver to Philadelphia with a stop in Chicago. She called my wife’s family. TV had been on the scene at Sioux City when the crippled plane came in and was showing that landing over and over with the plane hitting, flipping, and bursting into flames. She thought, and in fact was certain, that her son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren were on that plane. She called Keystone, who could only say that we had checked out that morning. Keystone gave her the number for Stapleton Airport (the airport management office), who of course had no information. A short while later, the local Philadelphia news broadcast the number for a phone line set up by United for family to inquire about passengers on Flight 232. My mother was too upset to dial the phone. My brother called for her, and United told them we were on the other flight – Flight 494.
After I realized what had happened, I called my mother from baggage claim - about an hour after they had gotten the word from United. It was quite a phone call. My wife called her family. Thursday morning, I went into the office where my co-workers were literally waiting to see if I showed up (they were afraid to call my family). It was a little tough sleeping for a while. The feeling was a weird combination of relief and guilt.
One last item: the parties that were asked to stay on Flight 494 were part of families or groups that for various reasons had been split between the two flights. Some of them had loved ones on Flight 232. They were taken to a private area to be told what happened. That also explained the rather vague announcement given on our flight.
It was one of those days we will all remember forever.
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