Phil Bradley, the sole survivor of Piedmont Flight 349 was interviewed by Charlottesville WINA-AM radio host Coy Barefoot on Wednesday, October 14. The show has been podcast. (The same day, a well-known Charlottesvillian named Ken Staples, who worked on body recovery at the crash site, also appeared on the radio program.)
This Time magazine article was the main compendium of information in the early days.
Some photos of Phil.
One man who claims to have been among the first to find Phil is Charlottesville’s Rey Barry. However, Phil insists that the first person to reach him was John Weis. Nonetheless, here’s what Barry has to say (in 2006) in a WINA radio interview.
One hiker/photographer recently visited the wreckage and created a website with photos. And this Hiking Upward page actually shows you exactly how to make the hike, and has photos.
Information about Piedmont Airlines can be found at its Wikipedia page, at this site for Piedmont history, and there’s even a restored DC-3 at the Carolinas Aviation Museum.
The son of Co-pilot Bascom Lee Haley made this short video of the invocation at the 50th Anniversary ceremony.
The October 8, 2009 cover story in the Hook newspaper in Charlottesville.
October 27, 2009 Hook story on newly-published photos by Ed Roseberry.
November 1, 2009 Hook story on the 50th Anniversary ceremony.
I am the pilot who decided to re-enact the government’s flight path theory in July, 2009. I did this to collaborate with Hawes Spencer for his article. After reading the reports and making the flight, I am very skeptical of the government’s findings and theory as to why the accident occurred, based upon their own “facts”.
I too will be at the memorial looking forward to meeting Mr. Bradley and surviving family members of the passengers and crewmembers. In particular, by making this flight, I hope that there may be some closure for them, as to whether or not the official report from the government was indeed sufficiently accurate to have closed the accident file.