The memorial for those who died at 11:52 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 31, 1986, when two planes collided in the skies over Cerritos and plunged to the ground, at the 25 year memorial Wednesday, at the Cerritos Sculpture Garden in Cerritos. Its maybe just once a year. Places were smoldering, he said, voice trembling. By phone Rochelle heard about the crash, but was given the impression her house had not been hit. Its a picture as iconic of the disaster as the Falling Man image is of 9/11. . But even in the bleakest moments of thiscatastrophe, the people of Cerritos, its leaders and neighbors stood together, hand in hand, to help bring the community back on its feet from a tragedy that affected the lives of so many. Thirty years ago today was a Sunday, the heart of the Labor Day weekend, and just as two planes were about to collide a mile and a half above the young city of Cerritos, things in the suburban town were quiet, as youd expect. . We forget it. USA. In honor of residents wishes, the council will hold a moment of silence at its meeting Thursday. A black path runs through the Cerritos, Calif., neighborhood in this August 31, 1986 file photo, after a midair collision between an AeroMexico DC-9 and a small twin-engine plane. I just did a segment with CBS news on the anniversary of the disaster, and we drove out to the neighborhood, and every time I go there I can still smell the burning jet fuel and the smell of death and feel the impact to those families.. The body of one of the victims of the crash between an Aeromexico jetliner and a small plane is removed from roof of home in Cerritos, Calif., Monday, September 1, 1986. It slammed into a residential neighborhood at Holmes Avenue and Reva Circle in Cerritos, crashing into the backyard of a house at 13426 Ashworth Place, where it exploded on impact. Encountering friends and former neighbors was wrenching. . See More Details (1) Remove Ads. What remains unsettled, and in many cases deeply hidden, are the emotional consequences. This was an accident.. . I was at the site within 30 or 45 minutes, and it was like going into a war zone. Workers search for bodies after an Aeromexico jetliner and a small plane collided and crashed to the ground in Cerritos, Calif., Sunday, Aug. 31, 1986. I grabbed a ladder and went over the fence and suddenly realized where I was.. How much this 58% increase in the number of near-collisions reflects the safety of the skies since the crash is questionable. In his mind, he kept going over a line from the Bible: We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him. Silently, he asked God to fulfill that pledge: If theres any way you can have my parents live through this, please do. Both planes crashed to the ground, killing everyone aboard. Dennis McIllwain plans to move his family back when his house is ready, probably within months. Not a day goes by without a newspaper or television story about air safety, and few such stories go by without reference to Cerritos. On Wednesday, the community will remember the victims and their families in a ceremony at the memorial in the Cerritos Sculpture Garden. Aug. 31, 1986: Firefighters mop up embers from burned-out home and aircraft pieces. Want to count bighorn sheep in the forest? Its not an easy thing, but its an important thing, he said. The survivors, particularly the ones who were in the neighborhood when the plane hit, need to share their feelings, but so few people can grasp the magnitude of what they saw. . You cant explain whatll set you off. In the first 11 months after the Cerritos air disaster, pilots flying over Los Angeles County reported 64 near-collisions, 20 more than were reported in the 12 months before the crash. She wasnt talking at all, only groaning and rocking back and forth, he said. Lawns and streets were littered with often unrecognizable pieces of bodies, intermingled with equally unrecognizable parts of the orange-colored airliner. In a Register story dated Sept. 1, 1986, reporter Edward Humes described the scene: The airliner had careened through houses on three streets, its nose punching through a brick wall onto busy Carmenita Street, crushing the rear end of a Ford Galaxy. Kramer and his wife and daughter were killed instantly. Dont let it bother you. My questions, nobody will ever answer.. Often, when shes sitting on her patio or in her driveway, Gail Grossman will watch airplanes trace the skies over her house on Ashworth Place. Twenty-six years have passed since a . Also speaking will be Knabe and Koepke, along with members of the community. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? . Firefighters battle flames from a burning home in Cerritos, Calif., in this Aug. 31, 1986 file photo, as they straddle pieces of fuselage from an AeroMexico jetliner. And every tragedy, such as the recent Olympics bombing and the explosion of a TWA jet over New York, brings a painful jolt of empathy with the victims. One of the early arrivals at the scene of the wreckage was the Rev. We moved back, but for me that just made it worse, Estrada said. She wouldnt go by that site. Numerous residents declined to be interviewed. in the north, South St. in the south, Bloomfield Ave. in the west and Marquardt Ave. in the east. As the years go by, McIllwain realizes the little ways in which the crash has changed his life. Thirty, 40 of them on a Saturday or Sunday, Fuller said, long drained of astonishment. I used to say, Thats the way its going to be. Im not the same. Together, the eight pushed through the lath fence on the other end of Medinas yard, into the next home. Of course, every year we pause and think about those who died and how lucky we are that it wasnt worse. You always saw Linda there., Ill be driving along, said Cerritos City Councilman Don Knabe, a close friend of the McIllwain family who took in the McIllwains during much of the last year, and then all of a sudden something will flash and Ill see Lindas smiling face.. They pushed through a lath fence into Ivan Medinas backyard. Thats where it happened. Hes not the take-charge guy he used to be. . Wes Neally, whose family lived two doors away from the Medinas and escaped with them in a frantic hunt for a path to safety, knows the feeling. . She told us, Youre going to have periods when youre depressed. Looking down Carmenita, you could see the fuselage sticking out onto the sidewalk and part of the street, he said. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. Get a heart attack and die?. A month later, Sue Nelson was talking about a cruise the family would take in several years. God has showered us with love.. That sound and the smell of jet fuel burning, and how everything got black and dark.. He found comfort in carrying out his mothers dream. Seaman's aunt, Mary Guzman lost her husband and son, who were aboard the plane. I was working the radio that was responsible for sending units into the area.. After the Cerritos City Council discussed commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the crash, two dozen residents signed a petition asking that no ceremony take place. Credit Cards Accepted. Contact Tim Grobaty at 562-714-2116, tgrobaty@scng.com, @grobaty on Twitter. On March 21, 2022, the Boeing 737-800 B-1791 of China Eastern Airlines Yunnan Co., Ltd. was carrying out the MU5735 Kunming-Guangzhou flight. David Lindley, guitarist best known for work with Jackson Browne, dies at 78, K-Pop isnt the only hot ticket in Koreatown how trot is captivating immigrants, Los Angeles is suddenly awash in waterfalls, Officials unprepared for epic mountain blizzard, leaving many trapped and desperate, The Week in Photos: California exits pandemic emergency amid a winter landscape, Snowboarder dies at South Lake Tahoe resort. There was a psychologist, Dr. Audrey Honig. A black path runs through the Cerritos, Calif., neighborhood in this August 31, 1986 file photo, after a midair collision between an AeroMexico DC-9 and a small twin-engine plane. Last November, Wayne and Sue Nelson, whose Ashworth Place home suffered the heaviest toll of the eight that were damaged but not destroyed, moved back in. The Neallys, who have spent the last year in a rented home in Cypress, have bought a home in Yorba Linda, about 15 miles east of their old neighborhood, and plan to move in by November. In 2006, a memorial next to City Hall was completed and dedicated. The accident killed 82 people 67 in the planes and 15 on the ground. I guess these are the little human stories that no one really cares about except those of us who lived them.. It might as well be a week later. The Federal Aviation Administration has tightened air space restrictions around LAX and other major airports. As they helped their neighbors, she remembered the crackling of fire and the screaming of people running out of their houses. When youre sick, I dont care how sick, when you go home youll feel better. You told me that crash would never happen again, the girl said through her tears. Today we talk about what has become known as "The Day the Music Died"On February 3, 1959, rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big B. Armed Carjacking Pursuit Ends In Fiery Cerritos Crash; Cops, Heart Hero Ambassador Jayen Is Star Student, Dragon Boat Festival 2023: Marina Del Rey, Tomatomania 2023: Roger's Gardens, Corona del Mar, Joyful Flowers: Ikebana Show 2023: Sherman Gardens, Corona del Mar, Art & Frame Warehouse Sale - Village Gallery, Annual California Cool Art Auction, Benefit & Bash 2023: Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, 'Holi By The Sea' Festival Of Colors 2023: Bolsa Chica State Beach, Huntington Beach, 6 Injured In Downtown Los Angeles Stabbing: Police, LA County Library: Celebrate Csar Chvez, UCLA: UCLA Health Receives $25.3 Million For Street Medicine Program Caring For Homeless. He was on scene within the first 30 or 40 minutes. The DC-9, whose tail was clipped by the small plane, propelled itself like a missile into the Earth. Wreckage of a small plane sits next to the tail section (right center) of an Aeromexico jetliner at the Long Beach, Calif., Airport, in this September 3, 1986 file photo. Kramer and his two passengers--his wife and one of their five children--died. Reports from that day said even people from as far as Signal Hill eight miles from Cerritoscould hear the crash. The pastor recalls ambulance and paramedics racing around but ultimately with nothing to do. We dont get emotionally involved. Finally, she returned to Chula Vista and, with her parents, rented a two-story town house in an attractive housing development. An investigator with the National Transportation safety Board uses a magnifying glass Tuesday morning, September 2, 1986 to inspect piece of small plane which collided with Aeromexico jetliner. Neallys family has new furniture, new clothes, new cars--so much new stuff they sometimes feel guilty--but none of it can overcome the lingering dread. Armed Carjacking Pursuit Ends In Fiery Cerritos Crash; Cops, Heart Hero Ambassador Jayen Is Star Student, Dragon Boat Festival 2023: Marina Del Rey, Tomatomania 2023: Roger's Gardens, Corona del Mar, Joyful Flowers: Ikebana Show 2023: Sherman Gardens, Corona del Mar, Art & Frame Warehouse Sale - Village Gallery, Annual California Cool Art Auction, Benefit & Bash 2023: Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, 'Holi By The Sea' Festival Of Colors 2023: Bolsa Chica State Beach, Huntington Beach, 6 Injured In Downtown Los Angeles Stabbing: Police, LA County Library: Celebrate Csar Chvez, UCLA: UCLA Health Receives $25.3 Million For Street Medicine Program Caring For Homeless. . Considered the darkest day in city's history, the Aug. 31, 1986 tragedy shocked everyone in the town we all call home as well as those spanning communities and nations throughout the world. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Cerritos plane crash 30 years ago: You either died or you didnt, Biden expected to tighten rules on US investment in China, More Iranian schoolgirls sickened in suspected poisoning wave. On a recent Tuesday evening, just back in his newly built home, Doug Fuller looked out of his living room and saw another eternal nuisance, the gawkers, the strangers who still drive up and down the block, still curious, still gesturing from their cars. Bob Kirkpatrick, a computer programmer in Spokane, Wash., said in an interview tonight that the dead pilot was his father-in-law, William C. Kramer, a 56-year-old retired executive with the Kaiser . We tried to make the place, although there were no homes left in certain places, at least get the I dont know how else to say it but get the smell of death and the thought of death off the ground and move forward, Knabe said. Mary Guzman holds photos of her son, Robert Guzman and her husband Joe Guzman, right, both died at 11:52 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 31, 1986, when two planes collided in the skies over Cerritos and plunged to the ground, at the 25 year memorial Wednesday, at the Cerritos Sculpture Garden in Cerritos. The sculpture bears the names of all of the victims. McIllwain--a high school senior at the time of the Aeromexico crash--attended USC, where he graduated with honors and went on to earn two graduate degrees at other universities. Times Staff Writer. The horror of the crash was captured in a Times retrospective published 10 years after the tragedy: The last time Jeffrey McIllwain saw his mother, she was standing on the porch in a house dress, saying that she loved him. On August 31, 1986, an Aeromexico DC-9 was clipped by this small plane over Cerritos. No one knew. He stored negatives of photos in a fireproof safe. Nor can she get over how, perhaps 50 feet closer to the impact point, the family of Frank and Theresa Estrada was not spared. Witnesses described a vastly different neighborhood as crews rushed to douse. Rob feels that but for a fraction of an inch in the air he would not be around. It happened. Pets Allowed. There they were finally able to pull each other over the fence to Carmenita and safety. But Jeffrey McIllwain kept mementos, a charred piece of wood, the plastic driving glasses and a hairbrush that his mother stored in her car. Its a fitting place for the memorial. So brutal was the impact that, despite the use of high-tech equipment, the county coroners office was unable to positively identify 12 of the Aeromexico passengers and one of the residents. Scattered in between the work are four vacant lots. . But things were far from normal. in the north, South St. in the south, Bloomfield Ave. in the west and Marquardt Ave. in the east. The Knabes and the McIllwains traveled together on vacations. I used to be a stronger person, said Ivan Medina, who plans to rebuild on Holmes but has yet to get started. I dont think about it on a week-to-week basis anymore, said Ray. The fatal crashes involved two private planes that collided over Oakland on March 31, killing three people, and a May 22 collision over Tehachapi, between a private plane and an Air Force jet, killing four people. And she started to cry.. The Crash site is bounded by Artesia Blvd. Airline pilots are used to having accidents occur. Almost a year after the Cerritos crash, a Northwest Airlines plane plunged to the ground as it took off from the Detroit airport. Be the first to add a review to the 1986 Cerritos mid-air collision. She was in her house eating Cheese Whiz nachos and her 7-year-old son, Robbie, was outside with his dog Peach when the Aeromexico plane spiraled to the ground. You cant let your job be affected by them. Location 1985-86 1986-87 Los Angeles 8 9 Santa Monica 7 5 Palmdale 5 3 Burbank 4 8 Long Beach 3 10 Van Nuys 3 9 Seal Beach 1 4, Reporting Plane/Other 85-6 86-7 Airliner/Private Plane 17 23 Private Plane/Private 15 12 Private Plane/Military 4 0 Airliner/Airliner 4 0 Private Plane/Airliner 2 0 Air Taxi/Private Plane 0 5. Wheelchair Accessible. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? We had a debriefing, one of the best things our department has ever done, he said. A resident has added "Lookie Lou's Go Home" message to a "Local Traffic Only" sign Wednesday, September 3, 1986 in Cerritos, Calif., near the area where an Aeromexico Jetliner plunged to the ground after colliding with a small plane. News of the disaster made front-page headlines across the world, and for many, it was the first time anyone had heard of Cerritos. Yet, somehow, a city that had never dealt with a tragedy of this magnitude managed to come together. Through sheer chance, the plane landed most directly on homes that were rented by people who had not been in the neighborhood long--the Estrada family, the families of Rickard and Cronkhite and the extended American Indian family of Howard Yackytooahnipah, which lost six members. I remember thinking, Whos flying on a Sunday?. The crash of . Both children were out of the neighborhood at the time of the crash. Register for a user account. One woman who lives near the crash site told of telephoning a government agency to make an appointment and having the clerk, upon hearing her address, ask if thats where the plane went down. Wednesday marked the 30th anniversary of one of Southern Californias most devastating air disasters. The air traffic controller who tracked an Aeromexico jetliner before it collided with a private plane over Cerritos and crashed testified Tuesday that . Please come.. For the first five years, every year on the anniversary youd have people stopping by and leaving flowers on the curbs and stuff like that.. It was an improbable, unthinkable tragedy: Planes plunging from blue skies into a quiet, suburban neighborhood, slaughtering people in their homes, showering body parts everywhere. Thats what people thought of when they thought of Cerritos, said Diana Needham, a City Council member at the time. On Aug. 31, 1986, an Aeromexico DC-9, Flight 498, collided with a single-engine Piper Archer at 6,500 feet above the Cerritos neighborhood near Ashworth and Carmenita Road. Jeffrey McIllwain found consolation in the kindness of friends and neighbors, the people who brought home-cooked meals or told him stories: how his mother had comforted kids whose parents were undergoing divorce, how she had offered everyone rides from school to home, even boys she knew had joined a gang. . Ray will host the Cerritos Air Disaster 30th Anniversary Remembrance ceremony in memory of the 67 people who died on board the two planes and the 15 who died on the ground, at 11:30 a.m. today in the Sculpture Garden at 18125 Bloomfield Ave., in Cerritos. Never had so many been killed on the ground as the result of an airline crash in the United States. She was expecting a pension from her husbands employer, but it was held up. It was like a battlefield, he said. Want to count bighorn sheep in the forest? Maybe its a form of self-protection.. Within the next five minutes, two more cars driven by strangers passed by. Twenty-six years have passed since a Piper Cherokee Archer II and Aeromexico Flight 498 collided in the skies above Cerritos, and claimed the lives of 82 people, destroyed 11 homes and severely damaged seven other residences. Aug. 31, 1986: A woman, who collapsed while watching rescue efforts on Reve Circle, is wheeled from the scene. Half the family--Frank and two teen-age children--were killed. Both planes crashed to the ground, killing everyone aboard. When all the rebuilding and moving-in is finished on Holmes Avenue, Reva Circle and Ashworth Place, the majority of the faces in the neighborhood will still be the established ones. As it was, Medina, his wife, their 3-year-old son and a niece escaped the terrible flames and explosions that consumed their house and everything they owned. Problem with this listing? Some of those new to the area, just east of Carmenita Avenue, know nothing of its grim history. An aerial view of burned out homes is photographed in Cerritos, Calif on Sept. 1, 1986 after an Aeromexico jetliner and a small plane collided in the air. They rented another house several blocks away from their old one, but their trips often took them down another part of their old street. Want to post on Patch? I keep trying to imagine what the plane looked like when it fell. The DC-9, whose tail . . The scene to this day that bothers me the most--and Im starting to think of it more, now, with the anniversary coming up--was the (lowered) garage door with a perfectly square hole in it, Anderson said. VIDEO: Final moments of fatal plane crash caught on camera by passenger His mother, Linda, 37, told him to take her baby blue Oldsmobile instead of his blue Volkswagen beetle, which was low on gas. The family had to go to court to get one. Some residents were in church, some were shopping for groceries for backyard barbecues. The Cerritos Air Disaster 25th Anniversary Remembrance is scheduled at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Cerritos Air Disaster Memorial in the Cerritos Sculpture Garden, 18125 Bloomfield Avenue. It was a life-changing experience, Knabe said. For two solid weeks, the Red Cross and local restaurants helped to provide meals for the survivors. They were the children of Laura Rickard and Xochiquetzaltzin Cronkhite. After 90 minutes, her aunt drove her to Cerritos. The next day, Robbies mother heard him telling someone matter-of-factly, Well, I only have three years to live.. . Maybe Billings is right. Nearby, surrounded by bags of concrete and wheelbarrows, workmen are applying finishing touches such as garage-door trim to two houses on Holmes and Reva Circle, fitting windows into the completed frame of another home and hammering the last rolls of tar paper over the frame of a fourth. Both planes crashed to the ground, killing everyone aboard. They need to let the memories fade, to allow their grief to evolve into a private matter, but the reminders are everywhere. In a separate note, she wrote that her sons recovered quite well from any trauma they may have suffered. 1986 Cerritos mid-air collision. But for the people who were closest to the crash, by geography or family, life has been robbed of much of its balance. Another woman telephoned a restaurant to make a reservation and, upon giving her distinctive last name, heard the maitre d ask whether she was the one who had family on the jet. Los Angeles Times staff writer Ted Thackrey Jr. reported immediately after the disaster. In Los Angeles, where there are 8,000 takeoffs and landings each day, there were 51 of these incidents between Aug. 1, 1986, and July 31, 1987, contrasted with only 14 in the previous year. It happened to be Labor Day weekend in 1986. Two weeks ago they had to relive the nightmare when Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed on takeoff in Detroit, killing at least 155 people. The line about the sales manager just taking $2,000 off what you offered him was, what? The views expressed here are the author's own. Jeffrey and a friend hopped in their cars and drove toward home. . There was no book on it. All 67 people on the planes and 15 people on the ground died. On August 31, 1986, an Aeromexico DC-9 was clipped by a small plane over Cerritos. Otherwise, it could drive you nuts real quick.. Long after the funerals and the insurance payoffs and the title transfers and the first Christmases have been endured, a feeling of incompleteness still plagues the survivors. The pain transcends news reports. . There were a lot of people walking around with body bags looking for parts of people.. Koepke, who with Knabe will take part in the ceremony, said that while remembering the day remains difficult for some, its a day that must be acknowledged. The crash, caused when a single-engine Piper Cherokee struck the DC-9 as the jet approached Los Angeles International Airport, killed 15 people in four homes, all 64 aboard the jetliner and all three in the Piper. Her parents couldnt figure out why. Wes Neally had been standing in his swim trunks next to the garage refrigerator when the plane crashed. Just in case it happens again. If I sat and let this destroy my life, Id be dishonoring my mother.. And every five years we have a ceremony at the memorial in the Sculpture Garden. I cant get over how in a tiny fraction of a second we were spared.. I can still hear the plane screaming--that is a sound that Ill never forget, said Sue Nelson, who moved to Michigan five years after the crash. The airplanes wing sliced off the top of his two-story house, the fuselage smacked into the yard, and the house burst into flames. In a way, I envy Robbie, because he saw it. She just wanted us to know more about the story. Marilyn OHair, a San Diego disaster-intervention counselor who worked closely with survivors of the 1978 PSA crash that killed 144 people in that city, said she believes that extensive and early outreach work done by mental-health counselors in Cerritos will limit long-term effects of the crash. It really hit home. If someones talking about Aeromexico, that subject gets changed real quick, said Grundmann, who was on duty when Walter White, the controller responsible for guiding Flight 498 into LAX, turned to a supervisor and calmly reported, Russ, I think Ive just lost an airplane., Its something that happened. It was nonstop for the next two weeks, daily, daily, daily. It was the terror Wes Neally felt standing at the garage refrigerator when the crash came, seeing the explosion and not knowing where the others--Carmeen, daughter Reanna and Reannas friend, Diane--were in the house. Our mailbag this week isnt packed with notes calling us a moron, which is sort of refreshing, but also not very funny. Their small plane fluttering down into the field at Cerritos Elementary school. You sit there and you say to yourself, Im not going to say anything, cause Im OK. Then you hear the guy next to you saying, I havent slept for three days. And you all begin to realize, Them, too. What you get out of it is you realize that its OK to feel this way. Three people were reported to have been on board the smaller airplane, which crashed in an empty school yard about two blocks from the wreckage of the airliner.. It was a clear day, cloudless, with visibility of 15 miles. Its also the loss of a place and possessions, of roots, of having to live through a cliche so easily spoken but rarely experienced: lost everything. The jet plunged like a spear into a home on Ashworth Place in Cerritos, its engine and parts of its fuselage crashing into nearby homes. Los Angeles. . The smoke-encased neighborhood was cordoned off. They have to integrate it into their life.. Today, Neally, a Los Angeles County weights and measures inspector, lives with his family in Yorba Linda, 15 miles east of the home where they lived 15 years. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Using a table, they climbed over their backyard brick wall, hopscotching flames, joining other neighbors in a frantic escape. A few weeks later a reporter from a Long Beach newspaper was wrapping up an interview in Estradas home. You want to blank those out of your mind. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), A Cerritos Air Disaster survivors terrifying memories, Biden expected to tighten rules on US investment in China, More Iranian schoolgirls sickened in suspected poisoning wave. For goodness sake, he thought with the embarrassment of a 16-year-old, Im only going to church. It was an improbable, unthinkable tragedy: Planes plunging from blue skies into a quiet, suburban neighborhood, slaughtering people in their homes, showering body parts everywhere. [11] Jeffrey began to realize he had to make a choice. He lives in Long Beach. I saw smoke and I thought our new post office was on fire because that was just south of where the plane went down, he said. The scene looked like a war zone with homes engulfed in flames and lawns covered with twisted metal and human remains. . Like the moment the big jet fell out of the sky and crashed nose-first across the street from his house. Of the 51 incidents, eight involved critical situations in which a. collision was avoided by chance. The 53-year-old Rancho Palos Verdes man was piloting his Piper Archer, accompanied by his wife, Kathleen, and their 27-year-old daughter, Caroline. When I heard about this one I got weak and started to flash on what had happened in Cerritos, Guzman said. It didnt work. Jeffrey left the car and walked in. Barry Schiff, a Trans World Airlines captain, said pilots are even more taciturn. She loved buying books for Jeffrey. Aug. 31, 1986: A deputy stands amid debris on Holmes Avenue after the jetliner crash in Cerritos. The small plane involved in the collision, which the Federal Aviation Administration said was a single-engine Piper Cherokee, crashed about a half mile away in the yard of the Cerritos Elementary . Anything reminds you of it happening again.. Each article contained horrifying descriptions of the event and heartbreaking quotes from the Cerritos locals that lived through the devastation. When he returned home, he got a call about the plane crash. They were given counseling at Cerritos Elementary School when class began again in September, and I still have the pictures they were asked to draw about the accident (house, people, airplane falling from the sky, etc.). The Nelsons moved to Michigan following the crash, and 12 years later came back to California to live in Riverside. On Aug. 31, 1986, Aeromexico Flight 498, a Douglas DC-9, flying from Mexico City to Los Angeles International Airport, collided with a Piper PA-28 Archer over Cerritos. But I had a choice. Their street was a wall of flame and their backyard brick wall, which faced Carmenita Road, was too high to allow them to climb to safety.
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