Then & Now: Kelly Duncan Moore
Now: Kelly Duncan Moore is dedicated to helping children and the church. SPECIAL REPORTYOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- After Air Florida Flight 90 plunged into the frigid Potomac River shortly after takeoff from Washington in 1982, flight attendant Kelly Duncan Moore was one of only a handful to make it out alive. "Immediately following the crash, my life was in a state of confusion," she said. "I didn't really know what had happened. I did not understand the magnitude of what had happened. ... I just started praying, and I've never prayed before. And I just started asking God ... why am I here, and what am I supposed to do now?" She was 22 at the time. She decided after the crash to devote her life to God and to children, working as a teacher and a youth minister at a Baptist Church in Miami. Freezing weather gripped much of the East Coast on January 13, 1982, when Flight 90 took off from Washington's National Airport with 79 passengers and crew members aboard. The plane was scheduled to stop in Tampa, Florida, and continue on to make its final landing in Fort Lauderdale. According to the National Trasportation Safety Board, the captain and crew's reactions to the icy conditions outside put the plane in jeapordy. It failed to get airborne enough to clear the 14th Street Bridge, where it slammed into seven occupied vehicles, killing four people. Then the plane lurched into the Potomac where it sank quickly into the ice-strewn river, leaving only the tail section afloat for survivors to cling to. "The most significant memories I have from the crash are the moments before the crash," she told CNN. "I remember looking and seeing a man turn around and look at me and he looked afraid." The next thing she recalls is surfacing in the chilly waters and clinging to the plane's wreckage. About 20 minutes after the Boeing-737 plunged into the Potomac, a rescue helicopter from the United States Park Service arrived and began lifting weakened survivors from the water. "I can remember ... being in the water and just being afraid. Next, just thinking people are going to watch me die -- and then probably the most significant moment was seeing the helicopter come," she says. The nation watched newscasts in horror as the helicopter hovered over the icy river and rescuers plucked survivors from the fast-sinking wreckage. Only six passengers were not killed on impact. A blizzard slowed rescue efforts as icy roads and traffic jams kept emergency vehicles from reaching the scene. Several crash witnesses responded in heroic fashion when they dove into the waters to help the survivors. And Moore inflated the only flotation device she could find in the wreckage and handed it off to a passenger with more serious injuries. One man in the water that day with Moore was Arland D. Williams Jr. As rescuers frantically threw lines to survivors, Williams continually handed off the ropes to others. When rescuers returned a final time to scoop Williams to safety, they found he'd disappeared under the water along with the sinking tail section of the plane. His body was later recovered. In all, 78 people died that day, including the four killed in the vehicles. Five survived the crash and its aftermath. "I never remember meeting Arland Williams," Moore told CNN. "We all were outside of the airplane at the time of the accident. There was no getting off of the airplane; we were all spewed out of the airplane. "I remember hearing about him and the helicopter pilots told me they saw him with a rope and kind of (handing) it off to other people. ... I never saw him, but I am obviously very thankful for him ..." Five months later, Moore returned to flying, making a trip to London. She worked another year-and-a-half for Air Florida before she decided to become a church worker, specializing in teaching and ministering to children. "My job now is a very exciting thing because for one thing, I love children. I love to work with kids and when I stopped flying I really wanted to do something that was meaningful." Today, Moore is married with three teenagers, who, she says, don't mind when she flies. But her mother still worries. Moore says living through that horrific crash changed her life and her priorities. "I feel like every day has been a blessing. I have a wonderful life," Moore said. "It sounds crazy to say it, but that accident changed my life for good. ... God used a bad thing to turn my life around."
|
|
© 2007 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
|