On Sept. 25, 1978, a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner and a small plane collided in the air over North Park.
The crash killed 144 people in the air and on the ground. It was San Diego’s worst air disaster, and at the time, the deadliest air crash in the nation’s history.
The jet hit the ground at Nile Street near Dwight Street in North Park. The force of the impact killed everyone on the plane. Pieces caromed for a block along Dwight to Boundary Street and the escaping jet fuel caught fire. Sixteen homes in the neighborhood were damaged. Seven neighbors were killed.
