United Airlines flight 232 survivor/flight attendant visits Sioux City 35 years after the crash

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Vincent De Groot, 185ARW Wing Public Affairs
  • 185th Air Refueling Wing

United Airlines flight attendant and flight 232 crash survivor Susan White toured the 185th Air Refueling Wing this week.

White was accompanied on the tour with Dr. Mitch Simmons who recently chronicled the flight 232 crash from Whites perspective in an article published on the “Homeland Security Today,” website.

In the article titled, Revisiting United Flight 232, Simmons takes the reader though the event, moment by moment through White’s eyes. White was in her third year as a flight attendant at the time of the United flight 232 crash on July 19, 1989.

Members of the Iowa Air National Guard in Sioux City played a significant role in recovery events 35 years ago, when the disabled DC-10 landed and broke apart on the runway in Sioux City.

“I remember all the uniforms there helping that day,” White recalled about the hundreds of Air National Guard members who immediately ran toward the crash site.

Simmons, who is also a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, was in Sioux City with White this week for a planned event at the Mid America Museum of Aviation and Transportation.

The museum hosted an open house and special presentation, commemorating the 35th anniversary of the United Flight 232 crash on Friday where Simmons was a featured speaker.

Simmons also serves as Associate Dean at the National Intelligence University where he teaches a graduate level course called "Infrastructure vulnerability assessment."

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