Remembering those lost in American Airlines Flight 587 crash helps 'hold on to those memories' 23 years later

Rosalyn Donovan was 7 years old when her father died aboard a flight bound for the Dominican Republic that crashed minutes after taking off from Kennedy Airport on Nov. 12, 2001.

All 260 people on American Airlines Flight 587 perished, as well as five people on the ground in the Belle Harbor section of Queens.

In the 23 years since, Donovan said memories of her father have dimmed. She struggles to recall snippets of their time together, like him playing the guitar.

But like she did Tuesday, for 23 years the Central Islip resident has shown up to an annual oceanside ceremony in Rockaway Park to remember him.

Donovan, 30, and dozens of others who lost family in the crash were among more than 100 people who gathered at Beach 116th Street to pay tribute to the victims.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and some of the law enforcement personnel who worked in recovery efforts that day also attended Tuesday's remembrance at a memorial wall. The event included a bell tolling at 9:16 a.m. — the time the plane crashed in the residential neighborhood — and a reading of the names of the deceased.

"It is so important that we read over the names, because it allows us to hold on to those memories," Adams said during the ceremony.

The plane's two engines separated from the main fuselage, which slammed into homes at the intersection of Beach 131st Street and Newport Avenue, with at least 11 houses damaged or destroyed when the plane went down.

Hundreds of firefighters, police officers and other emergency medical service personnel responded to the scene that day. The plane's engines were found several blocks from the main wreckage site, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a 2004 report.

Many of those who perished, like Donovan's father, Luis Arturo Pichardo, who was 43, were of Dominican heritage and had been looking forward to meeting family again when the plane landed.

Donovan said Tuesday she deals with survivor’s guilt because she was supposed to be on the plane but a change of plans spared her.

Donovan, who held a photo of her dad, said the pain is no longer as overwhelming as it was, and she and the other families who lost relatives in the crash now find strength in each other.

"Now it's more like a reunion," Donovan said. "It gets easier to be here."

At the tribute, Bronx resident Karen Tavarez, 51, kissed a framed picture of her late mother, Virgilia Tavarez De Mateo, 51, and her late nephew Steven Lora, 3, who both died in the crash.

Tavarez also said she has found kinship among other families who "have been through the same pain that we've been through since that day."

A group of officers from the New York City Department of Corrections Emergency Service Unit, including retired officer Samuel Valle, of Holbrook, who were involved in victim recovery efforts attended the remembrance for the first time this year, officials said. 

Valle said the event was a poignant reminder of the tragedy.

This year also was the first time the names of the flight crew were read during the annual ceremony, according to Belkis Lora, who serves as president of the Committee in Memory of Flight 587 and whose brother was a passenger on the flight.

The crash just two months after the 9/11 attacks ignited fears that it was another terrorist attack.

But it was found to have been caused by turbulence from another plane shortly after takeoff from Kennedy Airport as well as the overreaction of a pilot who took "unnecessary actions, including making excessive control inputs," according to the Federal Aviation Administration. 

An investigation also cited flawed training by the airline and poor rudder design by the manufacturer, Newsday previously reported.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the age of Luis Arturo Pichardo when he died in the crash.