20 Years Ago - Avianca 52 Crash

Monday 1/25/10 marks the 20th anniversary of the crash of Avianca Flight 52 in Cove Neck, on the north shore of Long Island. The flight was a Boeing 707, from Bogota and Medellin, Colombia, to JFK. After several enroute weather holds, and low on fuel, they attempted an approach to Rwy 22L. They were forced to go missed approach due to low level wind shear, and rather than declare an emergency, simply told controllers that they were low on fuel (perhaps due to language difficulties). As they were being vectored for another approach, the engines flamed out, and the aircraft crashed in a wooded area in Cove Neck. 73 passengers and crew were killed, with 85 surviving.

This happened less than 5 miles from my house - I heard sirens going up the road (I live on the main access road running up to the Cove Neck area) and switched over to News 12 to see what was going on. During the night, there was a massive rescue operation, with dozens (hundreds?) of police, fire, rescue, ambulances, you name it, heading up to the crash site. Since there was only one two-lane road in the area, it soon became choked with emergency responders. Several times, watching the news coverage, I would see an ambulance pass behind the reporter, only to watch it pass the house minutes later.

I read that the modern "staging area" used by first responders for large scale emergencies was developed as a result of this incident. Anyone know if this is true? Paging emshighway. :)

Should have posted this on the boards yesterday: On This Day in Aviation History: January 25th

I remember that night well. I was still living in Queens and was listening to NYPD/SOD freq all night after I
saw on TV a Special Report about the crash. The weather was pretty bad that night with a low ceiling but amazingly
it opened up allowing numerous responding helicopters to fly in. I believe they used John McEnroes fathers tennis court as an LZ. WCBS had a crew outside the ER of NUMC (then NCMC) and at one point three NYPD helicopters landed in a row dropping off patients and taking back supplies and doctors.
There is a very cool book called Sky Cops written by an ex-PD pilot and one chapter is dedicated to the story of this
crash. PD departed Floyd B. and flew in formation following the coast line along Brkyln, Queens and up LI Sound
because of the low ceiling.
http://www.amazon.com/Sky-Cops-Stories- ... 565&sr=1-1