30 years have passed since 37 people died in plane crash in Charlotte

On July 2, 1994, news of a plane crash at Charlotte Douglas International Airport stunned the community because the day started so normally.

A computer animation of USAir Flight 1016 shows it departing Columbia, South Carolina for the short trip to Charlotte. There were sunny skies as the DC-9 left Columbia.

“All of a sudden, it turned from blue skies to thunderous, big clouds. Lightning,” Paul Calvo told Channel 9′s Glenn Counts.

Paul Calvo and Phyllis, his wife of 30 years, were on that flight enroute to Washington, D.C. for a fireworks show.

“The plane was rocking and rolling. And from the inside, it looked terrible,” he said. “Couldn’t see outside very well.”

There was a pop-up thunderstorm at the end of runway 18 right at Charlotte Douglas. The pilots tried to abort the landing, but a microburst sank Flight 1016 like a rock.

‘Surely we’re going to die’

“Heavy, heavy rain and wind. And we could see the smoke and we knew then it was a very serious call,” said Eric Kelly, a retired Charlotte firefighter.

Kelly was one of the first on the scene.

“We had studied and prepared ourselves through training and studied a lot about plane crashes. But until that day, I didn’t know exactly what I would be dealing with,” he said.

“I was looking down the aisle and I could just see there is no cockpit there,” Calvo said. “And when we skid up into a guy’s house — luckily he wasn’t there — it burst into flames, and I said, ‘oh my gosh.’ I was conscious, ‘we are going to burn, burn up. Surely we’re going to die.’”

The plane had broken into three parts, much of it covered in jet fuel. Once crews got the fire out, Kelly’s team went into search and rescue mode.

“And we actually met the pilot, the first officer and one of the attendants walking down the street and they were devastated. They were dazed,” Kelly said. “I’m sure they couldn’t believe they had survived that crash.”

Meanwhile, Paul Calvo was in a panic.

“I kept hollering for my wife, she was on the window side, seat back,” he said.

He remembers he never got a response.

With burns over most of his body, Calvo barely survived. He woke up to the worst news imaginable.

“The doctors and my family were all around me and they said ‘we buried your wife yesterday,’” Calvo said. “I had been in a coma for eight days.”

His wife was one of 37 people who died that day.

“In those eight days, I met the Lord. I had kind of an out-of-body experience with the Lord and he wanted me to go back, and I was begging him like a dumb man, ‘please let me go with my wife Phyllis.’

“She was a dream come true for 30 years. I can’t say enough good things about her,” he added.

“Leaves an impact on your life”

Calvo eventually recovered and devoted his life to teaching and helping others in his profession of civil engineering. He also met Debbie and got remarried.

“I married up again,” Calvo said. “I’m probably the luckiest guy in the world.”

Eric Kelly feels the same way, but he said the tragic crash is never far away emotionally, even 30 years later.

“I sought counseling at that point through my pastor and received good counseling with him,” he said. “And in time, you do recover from those things, but it leaves an impact on your life.”

“I understand I died on the tarmac,” Calvo said. “First responders, thank you so much for bringing me back through. And then while I was in the trauma center, I had blood infusions and I died again. Thanks to the brilliant hospital up there, they saved me again.”

“The rewards are there. When you are able to save someone or help someone in their real need in their life, that’s the reward in the fire service,” Kelly said.

“My thoughts and prayers go out to those who weren’t as fortunate as I was,” Calvo said. “The families that are affected, the Lord is behind you, he will always be at your side.”