25 years after Flight 587, families gather at the Belle Harbor memorial to remember 265 lives

Families of the 265 people killed when American Airlines Flight 587 fell on Belle Harbor gathered by the ocean in Rockaway on Thursday morning to mark 25 years since the crash, joined by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, QNS reported.

What happened on Nov. 12, 2001

Flight 587, an Airbus A300 bound for Santo Domingo, went down minutes after taking off from JFK and crashed into homes near Beach 131st Street and Newport Avenue. All 251 passengers and nine crew members died, along with five Belle Harbor residents on the ground: Helen and Thomas Concannon, Kathleen and Christopher Lawler, and Franco Pomponio. The crash was caused by a pilot incorrectly working the plane's rudder controls in response to turbulence, QNS noted. It remains the second-deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history.

The crash came two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, in a neighborhood that had already lost more than 70 residents that day. Many passengers were from New York's Dominican community, especially Washington Heights, and were flying home to see family. In the days after, Belle Harbor residents brought water and condolences to grieving relatives who came to the crash site, The Rockaway Times recalled.

Thursday's ceremony

• Where: The Flight 587 memorial on Beach 116th Street, dedicated on Nov. 12, 2006. It lists the names of all 265 victims.
• The moment: A bell tolled and the crowd kept a moment of silence at 9:16 a.m., the time of the crash, according to QNS.
• Speakers: Organizer Belkis Lora, whose brother José Francisco Lora died on the flight; Mary Rodriguez, widow of artist Freddy Rodriguez, who designed the memorial; and the mayor.
• Still to come: A memorial Mass was scheduled for 5 p.m. at St. Francis de Sales, The Rockaway Times reported.

What was said

"Not only did the crash of Flight 587 deepen an already open wound, it was a devastating tragedy on its own terms," Mamdani said, according to his prepared remarks. He spoke of Felix Sanchez, who worked at the World Trade Center, survived 9/11 and died on the flight two months later, and said the loss was measured "in birthdays missed."

Lora said 25 years of pain had passed but that the day was one of love and comfort, and that her family's priority is keeping her brother's memory alive. Mary Rodriguez said her husband, who came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic at 18, built the memorial to survive the salt air and storms of the Rockaways. It faces toward Santo Domingo, and its doorway stands for the journey between New York and the island, and between this life and the next.

The mayor's presence was watched closely on the peninsula: The Wave had urged Mamdani in an editorial to attend, noting that New York mayors have traditionally joined the families at the ceremony.