Lone survivors of the world's deadliest plane crashes
When all others on board have died, being the sole survivor is an experience no one else can understand. It is a feeling of being lucky but at the same time of guilt. There have
James Polehinke
When Comair Flight 519, from Lexington, Kentucky, to Atlanta, Georgia, crashed on August 27, 2006, airline co-pilot Jim Polehinke was at the controls. The crash killed 49 people out 50 on board. Polehinke was the only survivor but he lost his left leg in the accident. He has spent years fighting accusations by the families of the deceased and the investigators that he and his pilot were to blame for the crash. Families of 21 of the 47 deceased filed lawsuit against him.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the probable cause of this accident was the flight crew members' failure to use available cues and aids to identify the airplane's location on the airport surface during taxi and their failure to cross-check and verify that the airplane was on the correct runway before takeoff.
George Lamson Jr.
George Lamson Jr. was the lone survivor of the Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crash on January 21, 2015 that killed his own father. The flight operating as a non-scheduled charter flight from Reno, Nevada, to Minneapolis, Minnesota crashed shortly after the take off. 17-year old George Lamson Jr. was thrown clear of the aircraft and landed upright, still in his seat, on South Virginia Street. Two other survived the crash but died later due to the injuries they sustained. Just before the take off, Lamson had changed the seat with his father. Lamson has been seeking out lone survivors like himself to learn from them and also to help them.
The cause of the crash determined by the NTSB was the captain's failure to control and the copilot's failure to monitor the flight path and airspeed of the aircraft. This breakdown in crew coordination followed the onset of unexpected vibration shortly after takeoff.
Ruben Van Assouw
Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771, from Johannesburg, South Africa to Tripoli Libya, crashed on May 12, 2010 leaving all dead except one. Of the 104 passengers and crew on board, the sole survivor was a 9 year old Dutch boy Ruben van Assouw. A resident of the Dutch city of Tilburg, Ruben was returning from a safari with his parents and brother who died in the crash. The boy sustained multiple fractures in both of his legs but he did not have any life-threatening injuries.
The Libyan Civil Aviation Authority (LYCAA) investigated the accident and concluded that there were no technical problems in the aircraft. The investigative agency found out that the flight crew did not acquire any visual ground references before the approach was started.