A special commemoration of the notable 1989 crash landing of a plane near the Sioux Gateway Airport took place Friday afternoon at a Sioux City museum.
Participants said it is important to remember how Siouxlanders responded to help the 184 crash survivors, plus not to forget the 112 people who died.
In advance of those events for the 35th anniversary of United Flight 232 crash, Flight Attendant Susan White spoke to Siouxland Public Media News.
“I have been in touch with everyone from the crew, so I am glad to be here to represent our entire crew, and just to be able to thank the city and the community for what they did for us that day,” White said.
More than 40 agencies responded when the DC-10 aircraft flying from Denver to Chicago and piloted by Al Haynes had mechanical problems and crash-landed at Sioux Gateway.
Pausing as she spoke to collect herself, White said it is still not easy to process her very distinct memories of the crash.
“I love to be back here to see everyone, and know that my life was saved, along with so many others. It is emotional to be here for sure. But I want to come back, I want to keep coming back, because if it wasn’t for Sioux City and this place and the pilots, I wouldn’t be alive and have had all this 35 years of extended life,” White said.
Medical personnel flocked to the city's two hospitals. People waiting to donate to the blood bank stretched in a line down the street.
Mid America Museum of Aviation and Transportation board member Pam Mickelson said the event was needed in part to inform a new generation of Siouxlanders to hear the details about that July 19, 1989 day.
“There is a lot of raw emotion that comes with it, but I think it makes such an impression on people that the community came together, that there were people who drove miles to come and help. (Hearing) all these different stories are the way we remember things,” Mickelson said.
A professor from Maryland, Mitchell Simmons, presented his research, Flight Crew Communications Through the Eyes of United Flight 232 Flight Attendant Susan White.
This was the first major anniversary marked for the crash since 2014, as there were no ceremonies five years ago for the 30th anniversary.
*Three more Northwest Iowa counties have been designated as Presidential Major Disaster counties, which opens up more flooding recovery resources for impacted people.
Government officials announced the approval of Dickinson, Humboldt, and Palo Alto Counties for assistance after severe storms, flooding, and straight-line winds hit the region in June.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency Individual Assistance Program was previously activated for nine counties related to impacts from severe weather, with Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Emmet, Lyon, O’Brien, Plymouth, Sioux, and Woodbury Counties.
*Additionally, Iowa Governor Reynolds has announced the state will begin accepting applications to distribute $13 million dollars to organizations that want to develop or expand sober-living housing options.
The funding is part of the $17.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding that Reynolds allocated towards opioid prevention and recovery programs in May.
That was after the Iowa Legislature failed to pass a bill last session that would have distributed millions in the state’s opioid abatement fund to various efforts to combat opioid use disorder.
Reynolds says the state will accept applications for grants through September.
*An Iowa summer tradition gets ready to roll this weekend. It’s the 51st Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, commonly known as RAGBRAI.
RAGBRAI has begun in Siouxland the last three years, but this year the route goes more southerly. Glenwood is the starting point for the bicyclists this time.
From Glenwood, overnight stops are in Red Oak, Atlantic, Winterset, Knoxville, Ottumwa, and Mount Pleasant, before ending in Burlington next Saturday. This year the 434 mile RAGBRAI route is the shortest and hilliest ever.
