Unsolved and on a back burner because of new air disasters, the crash of USAir Flight 427 two years ago Sunday remains a fresh heartbreak for the families of the 132 victims.
When the plane slammed into a hillside near Pittsburgh International Airport on Sept. 8, 1994, the impact was so great the jet disintegrated, leaving most pieces smaller than a car door. Eventually, body parts of all but seven victims were identified.Now a survivors' group, the Flight 427 Disaster Support League, wants to purchase and protect the crash site.
Teams of dogs scoured the area after the crash to find body parts that cleanup crews missed, and the National Transportation Safety Board even used ground-penetrating radar to search. Yet there are still reports of newly found body parts.
"I know parts of my wife are up there because a person I know was up there a few months ago and found a jawbone," said Jon Hamley of Chesapeake, Va. His wife, Sarah Elizabeth Slocum-Hamley, was a flight attendant.
"To us, a lot of our loved ones are still up there," said John Kretz, a league spokesman from Munhall, near Pittsburgh, who lost his 40-year-old wife, Janet.