By LIZ GOFF

JFK International Airport, June 1975… The burning, twisted wreckage of an Eastern Airlines Boeing 747 lay amid clothing and luggage strewn about the charred earth.

Makeshift morgues along Rockaway Boulevard attested to the horrors of the crash. The jet carried 115 passengers and eight crew members – en route from New Orleans to JFK.

The remains of USAir Flight 5050 testify to the horrors recalled by passengers who survived the plane’s crash into the Bowery Bay in September 1989. Tribune Photo By Liz Goff

One hundred and nine people died when the jet crashed and burned during an attempted landing at JFK in the midst of an electrical storm.

Fourteen people survived the crash.

Eyewitnesses said they saw lightning strike the tail of the jet as it approached JFK’s Runway 22-Left.

As the plane came in low over a row of approach lights, it struck a tower, then careened into a marshy area east of Rockaway Boulevard. Rush hour traffic was beginning to build on Rockaway Boulevard, but somehow there were no incidents or injuries to motorists resulting from the crash.

Rescuers were faced with a gruesome task – removing the bodies of the victims from the charred wreckage. The site resembled a battlefield, with wreckage and bodies strewn throughout the marsh and along the embankment on the boulevard.

Most of the bodies were torn apart and burned beyond recognition. Rescuers donned waist-high boots to trudge through the marshland, searching for bodies and body parts.

A little girl’s doll, a handbag, a flight bag – still attached to a seat – and a paperback book titled Fear of Flying lay near the bodies.

This was the worst single plane disaster ever in the metropolitan area. The death toll ran just one short of the worst single plane crash in U.S. history up to that point.

LaGuardia Airport, September 1989 . . . The air was chilly on the Wednesday night when USAir Flight 5050 took off from LaGuardia headed to North Carolina. Moments after the start of their takeoff, the Boeing 737 plunged into Bowery Bay when the pilot aborted the takeoff. It slammed into the water and broke into three parts as it hit a light stanchion and a pier in the water.

Two women were the only fatalities – their destiny decided when they took two seats at the precise spot where the plane split. There were 57 passengers and six crew members aboard the flight. More than 40 passengers were injured. Two were taken to local hospitals where they were admitted for chest pains and head injuries.

Controversy soon filled the probe into the crash when a passenger told investigators that he had been out "bar-hopping" with the pilot, co-pilot and a stewardess just before the flight. The accusations were never proven, and federal investigators later pointed to a defect in the aircraft rudder as the cause of the crash. The rudder was subsequently redesigned.

Firefighters douse a massive blaze in central fuel tank of TWA flight 843 in August 1992. The aircraft was forced to land in minutes after takeoff when a fuel tank ruptured, starting the blaze. Tribune Photo By Sarah Fernsmith

LaGuardia Airport, March 1992 . . . Tragedy stalked the 51 people on board USAir Flight 405, disguised as a snow-slicked runway leading into Bowery Bay.

Bound for Cleveland, the Fokker F28-4000 crashed on takeoff at the end of LaGuardia Runway 13-31, killing 27 and injuring 24. Eighteen of those who died drowned while trapped in their seats. The jet’s pilot was one of the fatalities.

Survivors said the jet was briefly airborne before the "first" crash. They recalled bodies, floating through fire and smoke. People with missing limbs, some decapitated, yet still in their seats – with their seatbelts on. One male passenger recalled an initial panic throughout the cabin – and then a "terrible, terrible silence."

Rescuers suffered more than 100 injuries – most caused by shanks of metal protruding from the wreckage and the icy waters of the bay.

Federal investigators later said the jet was at correct speed for takeoff and was briefly airborne before the left wing dipped and scraped the runway about 4,000 feet from the point of takeoff.

The jet’s landing gear then contacted the ground, leaving a deep furrow in the muddy field (the "first crash" felt by the survivors).

The jet left the ground a second time, but the left wing hit a row of lights and a pump house before cartwheeling over a 15-foot high berm and into the bay.

The aircraft landed upside down in about four feet of water at the end of Bowery Bay.

The crash brought to light suspected inadequacies in safety procedures used to remove ice and snow from a plane’s wings prior to takeoff.

Investigators said Flight 405 waited more than 30 minutes in a snowstorm between a "last" de-icing and clearance for takeoff. Two trucks were used to spray "Type-1" de-icing fluid on the wings and fuselage of the twin-engine jet. When the procedure was completed, one of the trucks stalled, forcing the jet to remain at the gate for 30 minutes. The pilot requested another de-icing at 8:59 p.m. and the plane left the gate at 9 p.m. to take its place behind other aircraft waiting for takeoff.

The tower informed Flight 405 it was cleared for takeoff at 9:30 p.m. It also reported "losing" the aircraft on radar and spotting a ball of fire at the end of the runway at 9:34 p.m.

Ice and snow on the wings can make the plane too heavy to fly and change the shape of the wings, reducing the amount of lift available for flight. Strict new de-icing procedures were installed at airports following the probe of the crash of Flight 405.

JFK International Airport, August, 1992 . . . A ruptured fuel tank forced TWA Flight 843 to abort takeoff from JFK International Airport.

The Lockheed L-1011 was enroute to San Francisco when the pilot was forced to land the plane on JFK Runway 22.

As a massive fire grew in the tail section of the aircraft, 292 passengers and eight crew members were safely evacuated by sliding down emergency chutes activated by the crew.

Firefighters successfully doused the blaze, keeping it away from 100,000 pounds of unburned fuel in the aircraft’s central fuel tank.

JFK International Airport, July 1996 . . . TWA Flight 800 took off from Queens’ JFK Airport, headed to Paris on the night of July 17, 1996. Twelve minutes and 90 miles later, the Boeing 747 burst into flames and tumbled into the Atlantic Ocean, just off East Moriches, L.I., setting the sea on fire, and killing all 230 people onboard.

Three and a half years later, investigators have yet to release an "official" cause of the crash. Probers ruled out an act of terrorism as the cause, and pointed to a massive mechanical malfunction instead – possibly from a spark which caused an explosion in the plane’s massive central fuel tank.

Relatives and friends of the passengers returned to JFK after learning of the crash – to the TWA terminal where they had said their goodbyes less than one hour before.

Families gathered at the JFK Ramada, at first waiting for some word on survivors, then holding a vigil for the return of the remains of their loved ones. The wait was long, and heartbreaking, as NYPD, Navy and U.S. Coast Guard divers located the victims and pulled their bodies to the surface.

The crash of Flight 800 is listed today as the worst passenger airline disaster in U.S. history.

LaGuardia Airport, August 1996 . . . Delta Flight 801, a Boeing 727 with 132 people on board, departed LaGuardia Airport for Tampa, Fla.

Moments into the flight, the pilot radioed that he was experiencing trouble with a rear engine. The plane was diverted to JFK Airport, but as it made its approach it dropped several small pieces and one large chunk of the engine on houses along 63rd Avenue in Flushing. The pilot managed to safely land the airplane.

JFK International Airport, August 1996 . . . A nine-foot long piece of wing flap tumbled into the middle of 156th Avenue between 89th and 90th streets in Howard Beach.

The 40-pound outboard flap broke off the right wing of TWA Flight 782, a Boeing 727 from Orlando, Fla., headed for JFK. No one was injured on board the plane. But the street below was not as lucky.

The wing flap carved a two-inch deep hole in the street. TWA officials were caught red-faced on the following day, when FAA investigators walked into a TWA hangar at JFK and found airline mechanics working feverishly to fix the plane’s broken wing. The problem was that TWA officials had not yet notified the FAA that the wing came from one of their planes.

Firefighters douse a massive blaze in the central fuel tank of TWA Flight 843 in August 1992. The aircraft was forced to land minutes after takeoff when a fuel tank ruptured, starting the blaze.

Police and Coast Guard rescuers pull fragments of doomed TWA Flight 800 from the Atlantic during a recovery mission that took months.