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Edition:
September 02, 2010
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NEWS
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Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Retired Frazee teacher survives plane crash, helps evacuate cabin
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• by Barbie Porter
In the orange glow of an airplane ablaze at the Denver International Airport, retired Frazee teacher Rich Kostynick searched for his wife, Susan, in a crowd of 110 shocked passengers.
Their flight, 1404 to Houston, crashed less than a minute into takeoff, leaving 38 injured.
"It was a miracle no one died," Rich said. "And for us to be on that plane a lot of coincidences occurred."
Traveling for the holidays
The Detroit Lakes residents were flying to Texas to spend Christmas with their son, Tim.
"We were supposed to fly out the next day, but decided to catch an earlier flight because a storm was closing in," Rich explained.
The two boarded a plane in Fargo, which was delayed, causing them to miss their connecting flight at Denver International.
"We got to our (scheduled) plane just as the door closed," Rich recalled, adding the two waited an hour before boarding the next flight to Houston.
The two settled in their seats located in the middle of the plane next to an emergency exit, as the flight crew prepared for their first flight of the day.
Beating the odds
The seasoned captain and first officer, logging a combined 17,300 flying hours, had a dry runway with the temperature around 25 degrees. The skies were clear and there was minimal wind for the evening flight.
The Boeing 737 taxied onto the runway, and was cleared for takeoff at 6:18 p.m., Dec. 20, according to the flight data recorder.
The pilots charged the engines for takeoff and began their push down the runway.
Forty-one seconds after clearance the plane accelerated to 137 mph and began shaking.
"It's always a little bumpy during takeoff," Rich said. "But this was much worse; people were being thrown around in their seats."
Seconds later the pilots aborted the takeoff, but whatever went wrong, got worse.
Traveling about 102 mph, the plane veered left 4,000 feet from the start of the runway and bounced over Kewaunee Street, an airport service road.
Crash investigators suspect that's when the plane's main landing gears were sheared off.
"The papers said we were airborne right before we crashed," Rich reported.
The plane slammed down in a 40-foot ravine.
"I was told we crashed at three times the strength of gravity," Rich said. "After we stopped, the next thing I remember was seeing an orange glow outside my window."
Women and children first
In shocked silence the emergency exits were flung open on the left side of the plane.
"The front and back exits had an inflatable slide to the ground," Rich recalled. "At the middle exit people used the plane's wing."
The exits on the right remained closed as the fire raged outside the cabin.
The crew responded quickly after the plane settled, as did Rich.
His wife lost her glasses during the crash so he directed her to the side exit and watched her slide down the wing. But he didn't follow her.
"I don't know why I stayed on the plane (to help others off)," he said, commending fellow passengers for their composure during the crisis.
Rich requested women and children exit first. The people in line complied without panic and without question.
When the plane neared complete evacuation, Rich noticed a mother in the aisle near the front of the plane holding a baby in her arms and a terrified child wrapped around her leg.
"I suppose she couldn't move that well with a child around her leg, so I grabbed the kid and told her to follow me," Rich recalled. "I got to the front and looked back. There were wires hanging from the top of the cabin and there was smoke, so I knew it was time for me to get out too."
While time during a crisis can be hard to estimate, Rich believes it took less than a minute to evacuate the plane, for which he credited to a seasoned crew.
Viewing tragedy from a hilltop
On solid ground, Rich was directed to walk up a hill to a fire station. "It seemed like a scene from the Titanic," he recalled. "Everyone was in shock and calling out names."
Rich was no different, he yelled for his wife.
"Halfway up, we found each other," he said. "It wasn't until then that I turned around and looked at the plane. It didn't seem real."
The left engine lay a short distance from the left wing, with its outer covering ripped off.
The fuselage on the right side was badly burned and the passenger seats were visible through the charred wreckage.
As the blaze grew, a convoy of fire trucks raced to the scene. Rich turned and continued the trek up the hill with his wife.
"When we reached the top I took out my (cellular) phone and called my son," he said. "I told him we were in a plane crash. He told me that I wasn't funny. When he heard the sirens of the fire trucks, he realized I wasn't joking."
Finding a safe haven
Rich and Susan walked into the fire station to find a triage unit in the dining area, with paramedics evaluating passengers.
"I wasn't hurt," Rich said. "And my wife just had a bruise on the back of her leg and one on her stomach from the seatbelt. It's amazing that's all that happened when I think about it."
While paramedics examined the two, a fireman overheard his wife was missing her glasses.
"He went back to the plane to look for them," Rich reported. "But with about eight inches of (fire retardant) foam on the floor they couldn't find them. But to even look..."
After three hours in the firehouse, the passengers were transported to the airport terminal and brought to the Presidential Club, an elite lounge, where Red Cross members tended to passengers.
"I spoke with the deputy fire chief there," Rich said, noting the man called the 100 percent survival rate a miracle, as fuel was all over the wing of the plane and was ripe for an explosion.
"He told me if it was warmer and there was more wind to move the fumes it would've been a disaster," Rich reported.
When the Red Cross reached Rich, he informed them his heart and diabetic medication was on the plane.
"The Red Cross jumped on that right away," he said. "They called my clinic, found an all night pharmacy and I had my prescriptions by 7 a.m."
The Red Cross also helped his wife with her glasses, faxing a prescription to Houston, so they'd be ready when the two arrived.
Presidential treatment after a sleepless night
After everyone was tended to the airline transported them to a hotel, but Rich couldn't sleep.
"My adrenaline was still going," he said. "So I went to the lounge and talked to other passengers and the crew members."
In the midst of conversation, a CNN anchor brought about rounds of boo's every time he declared there was a "mishap at a Denver airport."
"Mishap didn't seem to be the right word to use," Rich explained.
With less than two hours of sleep, Rich went to the lounge for breakfast. There he was reunited with the mother and two children he exited the plane with.
"She was holding the baby and I sat down and held the 3 year old," he said. "I guess my Grandpa mode kicked in."
The little boy declared his wish for the day was to not see another ball of fire from his window on the plane.
After breakfast, the passengers were brought back to the Presidential Lounge at the airport.
"They kept us segregated from the rest of the airport," Rich recalled. "In the lounge we met the captain (of the upcoming flight). He went around to everyone to reassure them it would be safe. He even told us we'd be flying in a four month old plane."
After the passengers' confidence was restored, Rich expressed his desire for a newspaper to an airline worker.
"We did the TSA (security check) right in that area so we couldn't leave," Rich said. "But a lady offered to get me a paper."
When she returned with a Wall Street Journal, Rich graciously accepted, but admitted he was hoping for a Denver Post which would highlight the previous night's events.
The woman returned to the newsstand and purchased a bundle of papers.
"I think just about everyone on the plane had a paper," Rich reported. "And I wasn't even nervous during that flight. I don't think I had time to think about it because everything happened so fast."
When the plane landed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston the passengers were brought to another prestigious lounge where the president and chief executive officer of the Continental Airlines greeted them.
"He was very apologetic for what happened," Rich recalled. "He told us our tickets would be refunded, assured us our needs would be taken care of and anything we lost would be replaced."
At that point, the passengers were told it could be weeks before they saw their luggage.
A Christmas miracle
"On Christmas the first bag was delivered," Rich said. "I was really surprised. Everything was clean, neatly folded and the bag wasn't damaged at all."
Two days later the second bag arrived. It too was in pristine condition.
"I asked the airline why the bags came sooner than expected," Rich said. "They reminded me I'd checked my baggage for the earlier flight that we missed. So, I ended up getting everything back except for the keys I lost on the plane."
Since the crash, Rich has kept a close eye on details released from investigations into the crash.
Reports said the plane's flaps, slats, speed brakes and stabilizers were in the right settings. The tires and landing gear were normal and the brakes weren't locked and showed no signs of leaks.
Why the plane shook until it fell from its short-lived flight has yet to be determined.
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