In 1960 two commercial planes collided over Staten Island. One plane tried to make La Guardia Airport. The DC-8 crashed several miles short of safety in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. The crash site remained a haunting reminder of United Airlines Flight 826. An empty lot on Sterling Place and Seventh Avenue marked its fiery end. I was 8. My family watched the news about the disaster on TV. At the time it was the worst airplane crash in US history.
An 11 year-old boy survived the crash. He told reporters at his hospital bed, "I heard a big noise while we were flying. The last thing I remember was the plane falling."
Sadly he died the next day.
16 years later I moved to Park Slope. One block away from the crash site. The lot was still vacant.
It isn't today. Almost 50 years later.
Things change.
Even in Brooklyn.
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