Residents connected to 1978 plane crash renew effort

Por Hutton Marshall | Editor SDUN

On the morning of Sept. 25, 1978, two planes collided in mid air over North Park, resulting in the most fatal airline crash ever to take place in California. PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, crashed at the residential corner of Dwight and Nile streets, while a two-person Cessna 172 fell to the pavement at 32nd Street and Polk Avenue on the opposite side of the 805 freeway.

The catastrophic accident resulted in 144 deaths and 22 destroyed homes. At the time, no crash had ever been deadlier in the U.S.

Though this crash occurred more than three decades ago, little exists today to memorialize the tragedy. There are two plaques honoring the memory of those lost: one at the North Park Library and another at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Each year on the anniversary of the crash, attendees gather at the intersection of Dwight and Nile streets. Some in the quiet crowd decorate the neighborhood sidewalk with chalk. Others lean flowers against a chain-link fence.

A group of residents, known as the PSA Flight 182 Memorial Committee, are now pushing for a more visible memorial where mourners can gather in remembrance, and community members can better learn about what took place.

Myra Pelowski hopes the site will be a place where families can visit for peace and reflection. Her brother was the final person to board PSA Flight 182 that day, hurrying back to San Diego for his first day at UC San Diego. He was 18 years old — 13 months Pelowski’s senior. She was especially close to him ever since the early death of their parents in a car accident in France when she was five months old. Pelowski said her brother’s death affected her greatly; so much so that she avoided visiting the crash site for 35 years.

“What I didn’t realize until I got to the memorial on the 35 anniversary is that a lot of other people felt the same way about not having something to visit besides a fence,” Pelowski said. “So it was really about creating a landmark not just for my brother, but for the 144 people who died.”

The proposed memorial site is just a block away from the accident site at a small, triangular traffic island (about 900 square feet), where Felton Street forks off from Boundary Street at Dwight. The location is currently filled with plant life cared for by its surrounding residents with no assistance from the City. Similarly, a memorial at the site would come at no cost to the City, with the committee planning to fund the entire project with private donations.

Local architect Peter Noll volunteered his expertise to the proposal, which would include a design contest inviting local architects, students and designers to submit proposals for the site’s design. Noll proposed that the traffic island be expanded, reducing Felton Street from 45 to 36 feet wide, increasing the site’s square footage to 1,582.

The memorial committee will present their plan and ask for local support at an informational community meeting on March 26 at the St. Patrick’s Church Hall, 3585 30th Street in North Park from 7 to 8 p.m. The memorial committee will also distribute a petition at the meeting to garner community support.

“We’re trying to take a respectful approach to this by opening up to feedback from the neighbors and give them the opportunity to provide input on their design,” Pelowski said.

For more information on the Flight 182 Memorial, visit psaflight182memorial.com.

Correction: This article incorrectly stated that the PSA Flight 182 Memorial Committee would be presenting their plan at the March board meeting of the North Park Planners.