Today Marks 40 Years Since United Flight 553 Crash

By Amy Cavanaugh in News on Dec 8, 2012 8:00PM

The Chicago Tribune has a slideshow of photographs to mark the 40th anniversary of the crash of United Airlines Flight 553, which hit a row of houses while approaching Midway Airport. The crash, on December 8, 1972, killed 43 of 61 people on board and two people in a home. One of the people killed was U.S. Rep. George Collins, who represented a West Side Chicago district. Head over to the Tribune website to see the other photos.

WJLA has an interview with Marguerite McCausland, one of the flight attendants on the plane.

“I recognized that we were in danger, and I remember somebody saying, 'we're going to crash,’” McCausland says.

McCausland, strapped in her seat near the cockpit, blacked out. She came to buried in burning debris and heard a baby nearby:

“The baby was crying. And then there was dead silence. There was no sound at all,” she says.