Why I am blessed to be alive

Thirty years ago yesterday, a plane crashed less than a mile away from my house. It was no small plane, either - this was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61, operated by United Airlines. When it hit the earth, in the middle of a large suburban area, it amazingly hit only two houses - neither of which had anybody home at the time. If the fuel-less descent toward the crash site had been just a few degrees off, I would not be here to blog about it. So, thank God for His protection, nearly ten years before I even gave my life to Him.

Here are some links to articles about the crash that almost killed me.

United Airlines Flight 173 (Wikipedia article)

Accident description at Aviation Safety Network

Official NTSB report, with transcript of flight recorder (PDF, 2.74 MB)

Survivor recalls deadly 1978 Portland plane crash (Seattle Times - AP)

(Same AP story as above, on KATU.com with video)

1978 Portland plane crash (many crash scene photos) (Matt Camp Dot Com)

United Airlines Flight 173, Portland, OR (Waymarking.com)

DC-8 Runs Out of Fuel & Crashes Near Portland (Super70s.com)