Anybody remember "Donna"

 In 1979, “Donna” a National Airline 727 crashed in the Escambia Bay. I do but I would like to hear from others.........

hallmarkgrad wrote: In 1979, “Donna” a National Airline 727 crashed in the Escambia Bay. I do but I would like to hear from others.........

Yeah some guy went out in the fog and rescued what was it all but two passengers...the pilot was supposed to go to another airport but wouldn't and got lost in the fog with the plane yelling at him, pull up pull up.....he was lucky he didn't hit senic hwy...I also think the guy that saved the people got in trouble for some nautical infraction or something..The tail stuck up out of the water for a long time...there that exhausts my limited recollection of the event...

I was sittin on a dock by the bay when it happened..I didn't see or hear anything but when I got home it was on the news..all down Scenic was crowded for a few weeks after that.. My Brother was stationed at Ft.Pickens in the USCG and he brought home a piece of the tail flap..I had it in my backyard for years..now days the NTSB would throw a fit if that happened..The pic in my avatar is just north of Langley on the bay 1979 that's where I was.

Here's a picture of it. I wasn't living here at the time - didn't get here until 1983. I remember reading about it on this website though. My orthopedic surgeon was a passenger on that plane.

National Airlines crash

I was working in the ER that night....and the next day when passengers were still coming in.

Never seen so many doctors examining patients....at least two or three from every specialty including ENT.

I dated a girl who said her sister's son died in that crash. (I think it was her sister... I've killed a lot of brain cells since then.)

I remember her telling me that the child was incredibly large for his age, but he wasn't fat. I think he was a five year old when it happened.

The girl I dated was a "Carnie" for a year or two and was the only girl I ever dated that could drink me under the table... but she was a lot of fun.

I was working the night shift at the city Garage when the call came in on a scanner we used. We jumped into the big wrecker and when to see if there was anything we could do to help. There was not anything we could do so we went back to the shop. A few days later I took my boat with my wife and my brother and we rode out to look at it and take some pictures. There was a boat(dont remember what agency) that kept boaters from getting too close. It was pretty windy and the water was choppy so we did not stay long. Later I heard there was a reward for the landing gear. Dont know if they ever found the gear or not. Later on they brought it a shore, I think about where Westinghouse is, not sure, and the took the wings and the rudder and such off. They put the fuselage and the wings onto a big flat bed railroad car. They moved it to the Ferris Storage Warehouse on Navy Blvd. I know this because I live very close to Ferris old warehouse. They cleaned it up and covered the windows and such and shipped it off. It stayed there was a couple of weeks. That was one the last things to go over the Bayou Chico train trestle near Pinewood lane. Maybe Radcliff rock company used the trestle a few times to unload some rocks but the track stopped between Chaseville and Pinewood lane.