30 years have passed since 37 people died in plane crash in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — On July 2, 1994, news of a plane crash at Charlotte Douglas International Airport stunned the community because the day started so normally.

A computer animation of USAir Flight 1016 shows it departing Columbia, South Carolina for the short trip to Charlotte. There were sunny skies as the DC-9 left Columbia.

Computer animation of USAir Flight 1016, which crashed in 1994 killing 37 A computer animation of USAir Flight 1016 shows it departing Columbia for the short trip to Charlotte. There were sunny skies as the DC-9 left Columbia.

“All of a sudden, it turned from blue skies to thunderous, big clouds. Lightning,” Paul Calvo told Channel 9′s Glenn Counts.

Paul Calvo and Phyllis, his wife of 30 years, were on that flight enroute to Washington, D.C. for a fireworks show.

“The plane was rocking and rolling. And from the inside, it looked terrible,” he said. “Couldn’t see outside very well.”

There was a pop-up thunderstorm at the end of runway 18 right at Charlotte Douglas. The pilots tried to abort the landing, but a microburst sank Flight 1016 like a rock.

‘Surely we’re going to die’

“Heavy, heavy rain and wind. And we could see the smoke and we knew then it was a very serious call,” said Eric Kelly, a retired Charlotte firefighter.

Kelly was one of the first on the scene.

“We had studied and prepared ourselves through training and studied a lot about plane crashes. But until that day, I didn’t know exactly what I would be dealing with,” he said.

“I was looking down the aisle and I could just see there is no cockpit there,” Calvo said. “And when we skid up into a guy’s house — luckily he wasn’t there — it burst into flames, and I said, ‘oh my gosh.’ I was conscious, ‘we are going to burn, burn up. Surely we’re going to die.’”

The plane had broken into three parts, much of it covered in jet fuel. Once crews got the fire out, Kelly’s team went into search and rescue mode.

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July 2, 1994 USAir Flight 1016 plane crash The plane had broken into three parts, much of it covered in jet fuel. Once crews got the fire out, Kelly’s team went into search and rescue mode.

“And we actually met the pilot, the first officer and one of the attendants walking down the street and they were devastated. They were dazed,” Kelly said. “I’m sure they couldn’t believe they had survived that crash.”

Meanwhile, Paul Calvo was in a panic.

“I kept hollering for my wife, she was on the window side, seat back,” he said.

He remembers he never got a response.

With burns over most of his body, Calvo barely survived. He woke up to the worst news imaginable.

“The doctors and my family were all around me and they said ‘we buried your wife yesterday,’” Calvo said. “I had been in a coma for eight days.”

His wife was one of 37 people who died that day.

“In those eight days, I met the Lord. I had kind of an out-of-body experience with the Lord and he wanted me to go back, and I was begging him like a dumb man, ‘please let me go with my wife Phyllis.’

“She was a dream come true for 30 years. I can’t say enough good things about her,” he added.

‘Leaves an impact on your life’

Calvo eventually recovered and devoted his life to teaching and helping others in his profession of civil engineering. He also met Debbie and got remarried.

“I married up again,” Calvo said. “I’m probably the luckiest guy in the world.”

Eric Kelly feels the same way, but he said the tragic crash is never far away emotionally, even 30 years later.

“I sought counseling at that point through my pastor and received good counseling with him,” he said. “And in time, you do recover from those things, but it leaves an impact on your life.”

“I understand I died on the tarmac,” Calvo said. “First responders, thank you so much for bringing me back through. And then while I was in the trauma center, I had blood infusions and I died again. Thanks to the brilliant hospital up there, they saved me again.”

“The rewards are there. When you are able to save someone or help someone in their real need in their life, that’s the reward in the fire service,” Kelly said.

“My thoughts and prayers go out to those who weren’t as fortunate as I was,” Calvo said. “The families that are affected, the Lord is behind you, he will always be at your side.”

30-year reunion

Part II: 30 years have passed since 37 people died in plane crash in Charlotte

In a quiet corner of what is now a bustling airport overlook, there is a solemn reminder that flying is not risk-free.

Jason Sturkie and Sam Orlov are bound together by the plane crash. Their reunion was 30 years in the making.

Together, the pair visited the site where the plane went down.

“We were up in some dark clouds and all of a sudden, I felt a drop, like in my stomach,” Sturkie said. “I don’t know how to explain it other than if you’re on a roller coaster.”

Sturkie was a passenger and Orlov was the first police officer at the scene. He played a key role in Sturkie’s survival.

Aerial video from that day shows the wreckage, with the fuselage broken into three parts. The cockpit came to rest on Wallace Neel Road.

Sturkie’s mother and nephew died. Sturkie was one of just 20 people who survived.

“On that second impact it was so hard,” he said. “The first impact when the tail drug was one thing, but that second one when it slammed down...”

Flight 1016 memorial

The men went to the airport’s new overlook to visit the Flight 1016 memorial. It has the original memorial marker, and on one section is a list of the victims.

“On the back side, your mom’s name is on there and then the original plaque over there, they moved it,” Orlov said.

Reporter Glenn Counts moved the interview to the Sullenburger Museum, which houses the “Miracle on the Hudson” plane. It was as close as Sturkie has been to a passenger aircraft in 30 years. Even more memories emerged.

“And then I realized I was soaked in jet fuel and there was fire just off to my right,” he said. “I assume it was an engine because the engines on a DC-9 are at the rear and I could hear the engine still spinning.”

He was lodged near the plane’s tail section buried under debris. He was pinned in with burns and collapsed lungs. The first voice he heard belonged to Sam Orlov.

“Once we kind of cleared a hole, there was a void,” Orlov said. “I was able to kind of stick my head into the void and call out and got a couple of responses.”

“I groaned in response to that and he said, ‘I think I hear you, I’m going to get help,’” Sturkie said. “That was the first time I felt there was hope.”

A groan was all Sturkie could manage because of his lungs. It took firefighters more than an hour to cut him out.

Orlov visited him at the hospital every day.

“When you run into an event like this, it’s truly life-changing,” Orlov said. “I just needed to know that the efforts and work that all of us put in actually kind of paid off.”

“I think it was for me, it was part of my therapy,” he added.

‘Thank you for your bravery’

During their reunion, Sturkie told Orlov how much he appreciated his response that day.

“Thank you for your bravery, brother. Not a lot of people would run into that,” he said.

“I was meant to be where I was, when I was, and would do it again without hesitation,” Orlov said.

When the accident occurred, Sturkie was a student at USC. Now, he’s an attorney, a husband, and a father. He took some time to reflect on the life he has been blessed to live.

“There are just so many, so many people that lost their life that day that would have been great family members — husbands, wives, kids, aunts and uncles — that would have had so much to contribute.”

After the crash of Flight 1016, all major airports got Doppler radar to detect microbursts more quickly. Jason Sturkie said there’s no telling how many lives were saved by that move.

Watch Channel 9′s 1994 coverage of the crash:

Channel 9 Video Vault: 37 people die in 1994 Charlotte plane crash

Channel 9 Video Vault: 1994 plane crash survivor whose friend died in wreckage

Channel 9 Video Vault: Witness describes plane crashing in front of her car in 1994

Channel 9 Video Vault: First responders describe plane crash scene in 1994

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