Arizona: Plane Crash Tragedy Still Hurts After 20 Years - Twenty years ago today, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 from Detroit to Phoenix crashed moments after taking off.
There were 155 people on board, 110 from Arizona.
Even with time, however, the numbers do not tell the story. The true scope of the tragedy is revealed in the flight manifest.
The entire Best family from Mesa, a mother and father and their three small children, died.
The Byelich family from Chandler was wiped out. Two branches of the Geiger family, one from Phoenix and one from Gilbert, died on the plane.
Justin Keener, a 12-year-old boy, was flying on his own for the first time.
His mother and stepfather did not hear news of the crash until they arrived at the airport and wondered who would be paging them.
Despite all that, the crash of Flight 255 may be best remembered for the one passenger who made it.
The survival of the passenger in Seat 8C, Cecelia Cichan, continues to astound because the crash was remarkable for its ferocity even in the physics of air disasters.
From
NeoCon
