CLAY COUNTY – When Nancy Moss boarded her flight to Boston on Jan. 23, 1982, she didn't think the unexpected would happen.

It was a typical but cold night. The plane, a World Airways DC-10, was carrying 202 passengers. Configured like an L-1011, Moss said the aircraft had two aisles of passengers ready to reach their destination. 

Except, they didn’t.

“An hour later, two people were dead,” Moss said. 

While flying in the middle of a blizzard, the plane skidded off the icy runway while landing at Boston Logan International Airport. 

After hitting a retaining wall, the nose of the plane severed, partially submerging in the Boston Harbor and killing two first-class passengers. Moss said about 40 others were injured.

It was a traumatic day for her. One that she still remembers.

It was just 10 days after Air Florida Flight 90 had crashed in the Potomac River, killing 74 passengers.

She initially flew on the People Express Airlines to Newark, New Jersey. But, she had to get to Boston for work. So, she then bought a $28 ticket to World Airways. 

Just before taking her seat on the plane, Moss said she walked into the cockpit and asked the captain about the weather in Boston. He said it was terrible. 

“Well, if it’s terrible, why are we going,” she asked him.

“Because I’ve got 200 people and a crew of 12 that have to get there,” he responded. 

Moss said she had a hunch about what would happen that day. She even told the captain not to go. 

Once the plane split apart, Moss said the captain, co-captain and navigator ended up in the water. None of the passengers knew the extent of the crash until the pilots came back soaking wet. 

“We’re in the water. Everybody put on the life jacket,” the captain said. 

Moss said she could only hear panicking screams. The trained flight attendant screamed, too, asking the passengers to sit down. 

“I wanted to get out of the aircraft because I was afraid of it catching on fire,” Moss said.

With her life jacket, which was a dud, in tow, Moss waited by the door until the captain opened it. She watched as several passengers went down the chute. 

She climbed over the wing, leading the way for others and helping them into the rescue boat.

“The jet engine was still running, so you couldn’t hear any instructions from anybody,” Moss said. “The captain was yelling what to do, but we couldn’t hear it.” 

It was like a scene from a movie.

Following the rescue, Moss said they took the remaining passengers to an out-of-order pay phone. At the time, cell phones were not available, so nobody could call their loved ones. The only thing that happened to be there was a television set on the wall. 

“I thought any minute now, they’re gonna say, ‘We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this news bulletin.’ And, I thought if my dear parents saw that before I got to call them, they’d have a heart attack."

Moss grabbed a paramedic and asked them to call collect and let her parents know their daughter was OK and alive. Moss, whose name was misspelled by one letter on the flight manifest, had to wait several hours before being released. 

Two days later, she took another plane out of Boston.

First, she took the Boston Sunday Globe newspaper, the plane crash on the front page, and walked straight to the cockpit. 

Moss said that after speaking with the captain, she made her way to the last seat on the plane and remained silent for the whole flight.

“I’m gonna go sit in the last row of this airplane, and I’m not going to say a word to a soul,” she told him. “So, don’t worry.” 

Three entities were found at fault for the accident. The pilot was found at fault for landing the plane too late. The Federal Aviation Agency was found at fault because it didn’t give the landing conditions to the pilot. The Massachusetts Port Authority was also found at fault because, at that time, they were not supposed to put salt on a federal airport runway, which they did to take care of the ice.

Every year on Jan. 23, Moss said she still remembers and celebrates the lives of the two passengers who were killed. 

By keeping herself active and busy in the local community, she enjoys giving back. As a volunteer at the Clay County Sheriff's Office and American Cancer Society, an Eastern Star and a private tutor for children and adults, she always makes the most of her time here. 

“Anything I can do to help, I’m pleased to do,” Moss said.

To this day, she still has the life jacket she wore on that plane. She said it reminds her how far she has come and how lucky she was to have survived. 

“I don’t thank [God] every day. I thank him every moment of my life,” Moss said.”And, I felt like such a blessing to be alive after experiencing [ing] such a traumatic event.”