Oyster Bay Fire Department for the crash of Avianca Flight 52 in Cove Neck. Although 73 lives were lost that night, the heroic efforts of many first responders resulted in 85 lives being saved. On this day; Jan. 25th, 1990- Avianca Flight 52 was a regularly scheduled flight from Bogotá to New York, via Medellín that crashed on January 25, 1990, at 21:34 (UTC−05:00). The Boeing 707 flying this route ran out of fuel after a failed attempt to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), causing the aircraft to crash onto a hillside in the small village of Cove Neck, New York, on the north shore of Long Island.Eight of the nine crew members and 65 of the 149 passengers on board were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the crash occurred due to the flight crew failing to properly declare a fuel emergency, failure to use an airline operational control dispatch system, inadequate traffic flow management by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the lack of standardized understandable terminology for pilots and controllers for minimum and emergency fuel states.Residents of Cove Neck immediately called emergency services. Jeff Race, a paramedic and member of New York City’s Emergency Medical Service who lived half a mile from the crash site was the first rescuer on site. He reported that most passengers were still strapped in their seats and the survivors were crying out for help. Survivors later commented that it took about half an hour for rescue teams to arrive. Initial reports to emergency services reported that a much larger Boeing 747 had crashed.Fire Chief Thomas Reardon of Oyster Bay Fire Company No. 1 was in charge of the initial effort to remove people from the wreckage. In his first call to the Nassau County Fire Commission dispatch, he requested all the help available. Thirty-seven fire and ambulance companies, as well as more than seven hundred Nassau County police officers arrived to help. Other companies that were not called showed up voluntarily to assist. The swell of support created major problems for extricating survivorsThe crash was only accessible to vehicles via a single residential street. 39 With the surge of rescue personnel who converged on the area, the roads leading to the site soon became choked with traffic. Emergency vehicle drivers abandoned their vehicles counter to established policy in the course of the rescue efforts. This prevented other vehicles from being able to access the crash area. The road was so impassible, many rescue workers left their vehicles miles away and made it to the scene on foot. Fog also grounded rescue helicopters for two hours. As a result, many critically injured survivors were not evacuated until 23:30.Eventually, four helicopters from the New York City Police Aviation Unit evacuated 21 people from the crash site. There were also major problems with communication by rescuers. Radio frequencies became overloaded and authorities on site were unable to make command decisions in some cases. The head of surgery of the Nassau County Medical Center was present at the scene but unable to direct patients to the best locations because many rescuers were radioing the center itself to get advice on where they should send the survivors. Medical professionals on site reported that some hospitals received the most up-to-date information by watching the news coverage. Despite these problems, however, only three of the passengers found alive died of their injuries.Rescue workers set up two triage areas on the lawn of John and Katy McEnroe, the parents of professional tennis player John McEnroe; the house is known as the Edward H. Swan House. A morgue and command post was also set up on their property, which was 500 feet from the crash site. At least six bodies were found outside the fuselage. Firefighters and medics erected ladders next to the airframe wreckage and led passengers down on stretchers and to the triage sites. At these sites, doctors tagged the critically injured patients for immediate evacuation. At least 30 bodies were gathered on the makeshift morgue at the McEnroe property by 03:00 the following morning.
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