KSAN detour. Dwight and Nile St.

While you guys were at JFK this morning I took a detour to a very famous intersection. The corner of Dwight and Nile in San Diego. This of course is ground zero for PSA flight 182. The 727 that collided with a cessna as it was downwind to SAN. What made this disaster so much for so many was a few variables. Such as the fact as many PSA employees were onboard commuting to SD. The fact that many of the eyewitnesses were subject to the most horrid human death. Three eyewitnesses on Nile standing near where I parked saw a passenger ejected and swore he was screaming as he flew past them in a prone position ending up in a parked car. A young woman driving nearby had a body impact her car and still has the bloodstained clothes and picture of her car. Another resident two blocks away heard something crash through his upstairs wall while he was downstairs. Upon inspection he found a passenger still in his seat in a upright position and that the victim was moving and lived for 2 minutes. Everyone from police to firefighters were burdened with the worst scene they would ever see in their careers and needed pyschiatric care for many years. Unfortunately the media got into the act and pictures as well as video were published. One rumored to be of one of the flight attendants. The worse being video shown in the movie "Faces of Death" in which the hole in the side of the house as well as three seperate scenes with human remains are shown.

Here are the pics with comments from that day.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... CDMQ9QEwBg

A filmmaker has put together what looks to be a great documentary about this crash. It looks to be a must view.

http://www.returntodwightandnile.com/

I also found a SD Blog with many that were there. Long but another must read.

http://sandiegoblog.com/archives/2004/0 ... rash-1978/

As I turned on to the 805 freeway from I-8 I saw the SAN traffic and couldn't help but think of the people driving 32 years ago as I was that saw the 727 on fire falling out of the sky. It was surreal. As I got off made a few turns I turned right on Nile I couldn't help but think of how the impact felt as many described a bad earthquake I then reached the intersection I realized I was on very sacred ground. I parked at the empty lot just south of the intersection which was empty before the crash and still is. I walked to the corner and sat facing north where the nose impacted on the north side of Nile and careened to the southwest. It was a somber morning as I snapped just one photo of the site. I walked over to the spot and couldn't imagine what this area was like 32 years ago. There is a monument off site but none on that corner which I think is a little sad. Back in 08' about a hundred relatives and ex PSA employees met up for a memorial in which one white dove for every victim was released in the sky. I also did this at 0902 which was the moment of impact. 32 years ago on a Santa Ana wind hot morning. It was much more than a simple spotting trip. It was a piece of aviation history. As sad as it may be. Here is the spot.

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/2164/dwightnile.jpg