Ray Andress was my cousin. And, Audrey, obviously as well. Thank you for this. I watched this with my mother (she and Ray Elvin, as we called him, were first cousins) and found out things we didn't know. Is there a way to get a transcript of this show to put with all the other family memorabilia?
Ray Andress was my dad’s good friend and fellow pilot. We used to spend time with his family, so this event is seared in my memory. I learned at a young age (6), that the world can be a cruel place.
When I was a kid, we went to visit some friends that lived right near this accident. We went up to see it. We were behind the barbed wire fence that you see in the video. I also remember the news papers showing a silver dollar with a bullet hole in it, that one of the pilots had on him. Such a target event.
This crash is part of our family's history. About thirteen years ago there was a plane down and we waited for many hours to see if Ray's son was the pilot on that flight. I didn't know what to pray for... That it wasn't his flight (and thus visiting this horror on another family) or that is was because we knew how to handle tragedies like this. This happened before I was born, but Ray Elvin (as he was known to family) was always a "presence".
My understanding is that the voice recorder was destroyed on impact. Voice recorders where in the front of the aircraft until 1965 when they were required to be mounted in the rear of the aircraft..
The cockpit noise identified as Uh Uh was the sound of gonzalez shooting himself. They found the "hand" with powder burns on it. That's how they put it all together
I found out about this tragic event after recently watching the old Doris Day film "Julie". I did some research to find out if there had ever been a cockpit shooting. Lo and behold I found this. I also learned about Pacific Air Flight 1771--another tragedy! God rest the souls of these people!
Yes. The LA news stations showed side by side photos of each crash site. Nearly identical. Two of Ray Andress' children (by then adults) lived in that viewing area. Plus my mom.... They did comparisons to the two incidents. That guy got on the flight by using his credentials to bypass screening. They had not been confiscated after he was fired. That changed.
I actually have the photo of RAY ANDRESS in his Airline Uniform. It was published in the Reno Newspaper at the time of the crash. My fathers business partner Roger Brander was on that plane, and my dad apparently cut out all the articles printed way back then. The only things that survived all these years is that photo and Rogers obituary. In May of this year will be the 50th anniversary of that event. I was only 10 years old at the time but that event changed the course of my families history. It is by no means a GOOD PHOTO, but it is scanned to my computer and I am willing to send a copy of it to anyone who wants one. Apparently email addresses are deleted by youtube, but here is my # 5416620983. Maybe that will get through
That would be great... I'm not sure how to contact you outside of public comments tho'. I've poked a bunch of buttons around RU-vid and haven't found the magic one. If it's there...
Nancy, Do you have a good picture of Ray Andress? I would like to include it with the flight crews in the SFO Scrapbook of our site for Pacific Air Lines. RU-vid won't let me post the address. Web site addresses are deleted on RU-vid. I'll try it this way. The site starts with Pacific Air Lines Portfolio and it's a .com site. Dan Veenstra
ROGER BRANDER ONE OF THE CRASH VICTIMS WAS THE ONLY PASSENGER FROM THE STATE OF NEVADA even tho the flight originated in RENO. HE WAS ALSO THE GENERAL MANAGER OF MY FATHERS RADIO STATION KBUB IN SPARKS NV & FAMILY FRIEND. MY FATHER ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED ON THAT KBUB BUSINESS TRIP WAS ILL THAT DAY SO ROGER WENT INSTEAD. I WAS 10½ YEARS OLD. THIS INCIDENT CHANGED THE ENTIRE COURSE OF MY FAMILYS HISTORY, NOT TO MENTION ROGERS FAMILY HISTORY. NEXT YEAR, MAY 7, 2014 WILL BE THE 50TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY
This is the version that has been told around the dinner table by the co-pilot's parents. His father, FBI agent father, was part of, but not, of the investigation.
Hello Nancy. If anyone would have a transcript, it would be KTVU, Ch 2 in Oakland as they produced the show including the other two segments. I was involved because they had contacted me via my Hughes Airwest website looking for former Pacifc pilots who knew Ernie and Ray. I had them contact Carl Mauck who knew Ernie very well as did George Locke. After the show aired, they send me a DVD of the 1/2 hour show. If that would be of any help to you, send me your address.
Only similarity is that someone shot the pilot and then the plane crashed. The shooter on 773 was a deranged person who had bought life insurance from a vending machine at the Reno airport and then committed suicide by killing the pilot causing the crash. PSA 1771 crash was caused by a disgruntled employee who had been fired and he wanted to kill the boss who fired him who was on board the flight.
