“We had no idea what we were dealing with until we came around (Maximo) Point and saw the bridge down,” said Bill Covert. “Just as we were pulling up to the dock, I looked up and saw a man holding his child above his head so the kid could get a good look. 40 years after the Skyway bridge disaster, divers can’t forget what they saw underwater By Gabrielle Calise, Tampa Bay Times 5/6/2020 Breonna Taylor case: Kentucky AG files motion to …

your thoughts or memories about the disaster, additional bridge articles after the disaster, Skyway: The True Story of Tampa Bay's Signature Bridge and the Man Who Brought It Down, The Sunshine Skyway Bridge: Spanning Tampa Bay, Skyway : The Sunshine Skyway Bridge Disaster of 1980, 05.17.20, John Morrison, Venice, FL., My brother and I were on our way to work from Parrish to St. Pete the morning of May 9, 1980.

CG: Summit Venture, Coast Guard St. Petersburg, roger.

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2020. He didn’t want to chance the two of them getting trapped inside the narrow, mangled mess. If he tried to stop, or if he turned south out of the channel, the winds could usurp control of the ship and hurl him into the bridge. Raiola and Betz started the rainy morning of May 9, 1980, with a trip to get coffee and breakfast sandwiches at The Bunny Hut on U.S. 19. Returning felt like visiting the pyramids in Egypt and finding a pile of crumbled rocks. We were on a sharp incline toward the water. The pier came down, and so did Interstate 275 above it during rush hour.

For more than 20 years, Covert has run a search-and-rescue training program at Eckerd College at the southern tip of Pinellas County. Positives were the interviews with rescue divers, former Florida governors and Tampa mayors, and the initial first hand accounts. . She was 92, stiffening with advanced arthritis, planning another trip to her native Sweden, undoubtedly the last given her growing physical limitations. More than 1,200 feet of the giant structure crumbled into the unforgiving waters of Tampa Bay and 35 innocent people plunged to their deaths. “You pay for it … but it’s a price I’m willing to pay.”. Anthony Gattus lives in the same house in Clearwater he lived in then, and he said he rarely gives the old bridge a thought.

But it also found a litany of situations beyond Lerro’s control: The localized storm “of enormous proportions” was not forecast.

The DOT divers were not named, barely mentioned aside from the “tense territorial squabbling” with the Eckerd crew. . Raiola and Betz dove a second time to retrieve more bodies.

In fact the morning of the accident, I remember hearing about the accident and not being shocked at all.

I marked the spot and moved on.”. “I saw her a few weeks before she got on that bus. A documentary about the 1980 Sunshine Skyway disaster has been released for on-demand audiences as the tragedy reaches its 40th anniversary. “I kept telling them, “Yes, but not today.’ ”. This documentary was awesome!

Last winter, he began posting his photos and memories of the Skyway in the “Florida, See it Like a Native” Facebook group.

“It’s taken up two years of our life.”.

“The Skyway Bridge Disaster,” a documentary detailing the tragic events, premiered last year in Tampa. I think they should have included the two points I mentioned as I think it's important to the story, but a good story overall.

There's a problem loading this menu right now. We interviewed filmmakers Steve Yerrid and Frankie Vandeboe, and author Bill DeYoung. 5 minutes about the disaster and 55 minutes about the harbor pilot and his lawyer. Mayday! I enjoyed the comments from the people who were there.But I do wish there had been more than a minute of re-creation of the actual crash ,If I didn't know the back story,I'd have been just a bit confused.

She led such an active life.

After a tense exchange, the Eckerd team agreed to tie the DOT boat off. perhaps he will check back here and update his email address. It was at almost this exact spot that the Coast Guard cutter Blackthorn had been rammed four months earlier by the tanker Capricorn. “When I went aboard the ship and saw John, I thought I had never seen a soul so lost.”. Vessel has just hit the Skyway bridge. As he crawled into the dark bus alone, he saw passengers still trapped in their seats upside down. It is almost impossible for a ship to hit the main span on the new bridge.

Very, very quiet.”. Jim Crispin sat beside Hornbuckle in the front seat. This documenary is worth renting if you are instrested in this disaster. “If you can imagine being in that situation -- it’s like joining the fire department on September 6, and then 9/11 comes in, you’re climbing up the steps in the Twin Towers.”. Someone stole my Irish setter and kept her for three days. Gattus, now 81, was a passenger in a yellow Buick headed south with three other men to ferry cars back for sale in Pinellas County.

A state inquiry later cleared Lerro of negligence. Betz agreed to be interviewed, too, to support his friend. The freighter was already dealing with fog when it was hit by 60 mph winds and blinding rain. But its grade is less precipitous, and many drivers take comfort that they don’t have to look through a steel-grate roadbed to the water so many feet below. Every time I hear of a Columbine or of a parent losing a child, it plays all over again.

I could not change her heading. Betz had been at the Skyway a few days before. ©2020 the Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.), Visit the Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.) at www.tampabay.com. (Nearly screaming) Stop the traffic on that Skyway bridge!”. Despite a flurry of last-second maneuvers, it was too late. “It was chaos out there,” DeYoung said.

It was 39 years ago that the storm-blinded freighter Summit Venture crashed into the support columns of the Sunshine Skyway bridge, causing a 1,200-foot span of the bridge to collapse into the bay. Hornbuckle, the driver, had not seen the center span of the roadway disappear. He’s there when he remembers diving off his boat in the bay with friends, and bringing back stone crabs to cook up with his family. I was above the bridge when I got hit with a huge squall. “I remember thinking at one point, “I am the only living thing down here.’ ”. Because You Deserve It – Better Rescue and Survival Gear for Mariners, IMO Cyber-attack Has Serious Implications, Op-Ed: The Popular Mechanics Of Maritime Innovation, Cracked Containership Leaking Oil at Bayonne, New Jersey Terminal, Bouchard Transportation Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, U.S. Coast Guard to Test Autonomous Response Boat, Air Force Pararescue Jumpers Respond to Medical Emergency on Fishing Vessel Off Hawaii, Incident Video: Dredge Impales Tanker at Malaysian Anchorage, Watch: gCaptain’s Impassioned Call For Change, Hoglund Marine Takes Majority Stake in Wind-Assisted Car Carrier Project, New CEO Appointed at Family-Owned Ulstein, CMA CGM’s New LNG-Powered Megaship Sets Cargo Record.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge has been recognized for its scenic views crossing Tampa Bay, as well as its eye-catching design. The Summit Venture, with bridge debris hanging from its bow, is pictured shortly after it crashed into the Sunshine Skyway bridge. Two dives had been at the Skyway. Emergency situation. Sitting in the back of the room, Raiola couldn’t stop shaking and crying, standing up at least a dozen times to correct DeYoung before his daughter guided him to sit.

. I have lived in the Tampabay are all my life and remember the day this accident happened. He can still remember staring at the faces of the victims he pulled from the wreckage. have a skyway disaster story or remembrance? Coast Guard: Vessel calling Mayday, vessel in distress.

There are often days within a state’s history that go down in infamy. The 19,734-ton Summit Venture freighter, lost in fog, had slammed into the support columns of the old Skyway bridge. I never have. Photographs and information from the Tampa Bay Times archives were also used. After Chalmers, now a district fire chief, confirmed the information, he drove to Fort De Soto. Never nodded or smiled or even made eye contact. To this day, I still believed what I heard everywhere back then. She ran through intermittent fog and rain along the first 19 miles of her journey. The noise and impact from the bridge’s fall had chased all marine life away. Betz views what he did 40 years ago as a small part of his story.

To commemorate the 40 year anniversary, we wanted to tell the story of two men who received little recognition for their efforts. “It’s just a very tough bay to negotiate,” Buffington said. But the channel was never straightened, a fact that surprises Knight, the former fire chief. Yet many factors were found to be beyond the pilot’s control: The storm that blinded the ship was not forecast; Lerro had no idea the oncoming tanker had anchored and was no longer a threat; a passing pilot never warned Lerro about the storm.

“It has been very harrowing to go through what he’s been going through,” she said. One of the Eckerd students was Michael Rosselet, then in his early 20s. Except, as they settled into their Greyhound bus seats, heading south under gray and threatening skies, they were about to die together.

Unbelievable.”. “We went for years,” his mother said. He hid Lerro, his wife and son in a hotel under the name Yerrid, where they remained for weeks. Quickly browse titles in our catalog based on the ones you have picked.

Then in 2013, Bill DeYoung published his book, “Skyway: The true story of Tampa Bay’s signature bridge and the man who brought it down.” Though transportation department divers were listed as present, Raiola and Betz’s names weren’t mentioned. But as his car neared the crest of the bridge, he realized the upper superstructure was missing. Was extremely interested in learning more about the details of this tragedy, and perhaps more about the aftermath and how engineers used it to improve future bridges. After Chip’s death, the Tuskegee Institute named a tennis tournament for him. This is the United States Coast Guard, St. Petersburg, Florida.

His daughter Stephanie bought him a copy. The Summit Venture sailed for another 13 years.

I’m convinced Chip’s death is a contributing factor.”. I lost control of the ship.

Raiola identified himself. It does a good job of telling the story about the accident and the aftermath.

My son who is 15 years old even liked watching it! all the emergency equipment out to the Skyway bridge. He used to carry around a similar bag when he became a father.

He ordered a series of maneuvers, including emergency reversal of the engines and the deployment of the anchors. She was removed from the Liberian registry in November 1993 at the age of 17, and there is no record of her since.

The Skyway Bridge Disaster Documentary.

With the ship’s belly empty of cargo and her tanks nearly empty of ballast, she rode high in the water. The new Sunshine Skyway, connecting Pinellas and Manatee counties, is a model of grace. She said she had been to the doctor to see if she was okay for the trip to Europe. On the bridge above and in the water below, terror of such magnitude no one could have dreamed filled the final seconds of 35 lives. He can still remember tying the body to the dive platform on the Eckerd boat. The wrecked Greyhound bus is unloaded from a barge after it was pulled from the water. The lone occupant, Wesley MacIntire, survived.

There is never a good time to die, but for 92-year-old Gerta Hedquist, the future held only pain and disappointment. It stopped with the left front tire 14 inches from oblivion. It is an amazing tho sad story.

The horror in Lerro’s voice is painful to hear: Lerro: Mayday! He said she could go, but it probably would be the last time because of the arthritis. I can’t get that image out of my mind.

Over. It leans to the west, its golden superstructure appearing like two sails steering the bridge to the sea. It’s been nearly 35 years since the Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapse.

Raiola signaled for Betz to wait outside while he entered through where the smashed front window should have been.

Get all emergency equipment out to the Skyway bridge.

Mayday! My life was threatened.

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