Remembering Pan Am Flight 759 crash in New Orleans metro, 42 years later
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Rescue workers sift through the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 759 that crashed during a thunderstorm on July 9, 1982, in Kenner. Photo: Bettman/Getty Images
Tuesday marks the 42nd anniversary of Pan Am Flight 759, which crashed in a New Orleans metro neighborhood, killing 153 people.
Why it matters: It remains one of the deadliest plane crashes in U.S. history.
The big picture: Pan Am Flight 759 crashed shortly after taking off from the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on July 9, 1982.
- It was a regularly scheduled flight from Miami to Las Vegas with a stop in New Orleans, according to the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation report.
- The Boeing 727 hit a microburst during a thunderstorm and crashed into a Kenner neighborhood, killing all 145 people on the plane and another eight on the ground, NTSB said.
Zoom in: The jet left debris for four blocks, WWL reported. Six homes were destroyed and five were damaged, and first responders were tasked with searching the rubble for survivors.
Miracle baby: A Kenner policeman found 16-month-old Melissa Trahan alive near her crib in a destroyed home.
- Her mom and 4-year-old sister died in the crash, but their spirits live on in her, she told WWL on the 30th anniversary.
- Trahan grew up, graduated from LSU, got married and had her own daughter, according to People.
What's changed since: Doppler radar is now used at airports to detect wind shear and microbursts like the one that brought down the plane.
- The airport also built an east-west runway as a result of the crash so planes could take off over uninhabited swamp in St. Charles Parish, former Kenner Mayor Aaron Broussard told WWL.
- There's a memorial for the crash victims in the courtyard of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Kenner.





Go deeper:
See more photos from the crash.
