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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Gary Pomerantz, Edward Gray, David McCorkell
Aired July 21, 2002 - 08:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Seven years ago, on August 21, a commuter plane with 29 people on board was flying at 18,000 feet over Georgia. Without warning, a propeller blade broke off. Nine minutes, 20 seconds later the plane crashed into a Carollton, Georgia hay field.
A memorial service is being held at a church near the crash site today to remember the victims and the survivors of the mishap. A book that's been out in the past year, "Nine Minutes 20 Seconds," it's called, give the harrowing accounts of those who lived through this amazing story.
We are joined by two of the survivors, as well as the author, Gary Pomerantz. It's good to have you all with us. We really appreciate you joining us -- good to have you all here, David McCorkell and Edward Gray.
First of all, Gary, I'm going to start with you, we'll get to you guys in a second. How did -- what was it about this story that sort of lured you to it?
GARY POMERANTZ, AUTHOR: You know, it was an amazing story, and it just disappeared from the media almost at once. A plane had fallen from the sky and crashed in someone's backyard. I saw it as a story of everyday people as heroes. But the media just let it go quickly, and I found myself wondering about these people as timed passed.
O'BRIEN: We have a way of doing that. Now, what -- you did some 500 interviews, in the course of reading this book last night, which I could not put down, I was up till midnight reading it. So, if I'm a little blurry eyed, it's because of that -- it is amazing exhaustive, and you have amazing insights into the minds of some people who didn't survive as well.
How were you able to do that?
POMERANTZ: Well, you know, I talked to 18 of the 19 survivors, and they -- their interviews were absolutely mesmerizing, every one. And then I went to all 10 families who lost someone in the crash, to try to come to know the people who were lost. And so often what happens here, after a crisis is you'll see the reports, and it'll say, Captain Ed Gray, 45, Dublin, GA, -- name, age, and hometown. And you don't know who they were. My ambition here was to learn the life that lived between those commas. O'BRIEN: Yes, you did a good job with that.
Gentlemen, what's -- first of all, I got to ask you -- let's start with Gary -- excuse me, with David.
Give us a sense of what it's like on these anniversaries.
DAVID MCCORKELL, SURVIVOR: Well, you know, it is pretty hard to take sometimes. Yeah.
O'BRIEN: What goes through your mind? Is it if it happened yesterday, that sort of thing, is it as fresh as it ever was?
MCCORKELL: That stays with you, you don't, you don't forget it -- it's stamped on your memory forever, I believe, yes.
O'BRIEN: Edward, is it the same for you? Is it as fresh as ever?
EDWARD GRAY, SURVIVOR: Not really. I find that as time goes by, it becomes more distant. What I seem to focus on are the people who helped me, which is why I wanted to come here today, to honor these people.
O'BRIEN: And that's what this ceremony's all about, is to talk about those people who arrived and did something.
GRAY: And of course -- and the memory of those who weren't as fortunate as us.
O'BRIEN: All right, now, you've had a relatively unusual experience in your life, in the sense that you've sort of had to make peace with, perhaps, the finality of it all, the mortality that we all fear. At -- does that help you live a better life, a different life, how has it changed your lives?
You want to go first?
GRAY: Well, from my point of view, and I said this to Gary, actually, my attitude in life was I felt that the world was made up of a bunch of people who were not terrible nice, and there were one or two nice people sprinkled among them. I really had an epiphany -- a true change -- the world is made up of pretty nice people, and there's a couple of nasties among them.
O'BRIEN: So, for you, it was a real uplifting experience.
GRAY: Yes, it was.
O'BRIEN: It can be just the opposite for people. I know some people end up feeling very guilty for example. Have you -- did you run into any of those things, David?
MCCORKELL: Well, it changed my life, too. I ended up getting back together with my wife, and had all my children move back in with me, and really turned my life around. I had been on -- alone at that time, and after that experience, I really didn't want to be ...
O'BRIEN: Really, that precipitated you getting back with somebody, reigniting an old relationship?
MCCORKELL: Absolutely.
O'BRIEN: Wow. Gary, how common is that? You know, this -- these are good stories, this is something good has come out of that terrible thing -- it didn't happen for everybody that way.
POMERANTZ: It didn't happen for everybody. There's some people who are still suffering from survivor guilt, this sense that their life was purchased at the cost of another. There -- post traumatic stress disorder, you hear often about that -- this is not a Disney story.
O'BRIEN: But there's a lot of uplift here. One of the most amazing stories is the young co-pilot, the last words captured on the cockpit recorder, Mat Warmadam (ph) calling out to is wife, "Amy, I love you."
POMERANTZ: Matt had only been flying for four months. He survived. Suffered burns on his back and his hands. He wanted to fly, that was his dream, and so seven year later, he'd been through some reconstructive surgery on his hands, he's back flying with the airlines, and you know, for a nation reluctant to fly, he's a remarkable symbol.
O'BRIEN: You know, and that note was written by the women -- who she ripped something out of a paper bag, and she wrote to her family ...
POMERANTZ: Right, to her two sons, Lucas (ph) and Zeek (ph), "Be good always, you are the lights of my life, love always, Mommy." And then prayers.
O'BRIEN: It just gives me -- it gives me goose bumps to hear those stories. I know in -- and I wasn't there. What is that like to hear those kinds of tales?
GRAY: I didn't know about any of that, until I read the book, actually, and it was just so enlightening for me.
I had an interesting experience on the plan coming down. I was getting nervous on the flight ...
O'BRIEN: So, you still fly?
GRAY: Never on a prop again, and never on a commuter again, OK? But there was a three-week-old baby next to me, seated with her mother -- little Emma (ph), and when I saw that baby, I felt that, that life was going to be OK.
O'BRIEN: Really?
GRAY: It was -- it just took my mind off it. O'BRIEN: You have those kinds of experiences, David -- first of all, do you -- have you flown -- do you fly?
MCCORKELL: Oh, yes, I fly almost every week for my job.
O'BRIEN: White knuckles?
MCCORKELL: No, I got back into it quite fast.
O'BRIEN: What about this issue of survivor's guilt? Did you ever have to cope with that? You guys have good stories to tell, but nevertheless, that's got to be a natural reaction.
GRAY: I was fortunate; I took some therapy immediately after -- post traumatic stress ...
O'BRIEN: ... good advice ...
GRAY: Oh, absolutely -- one of my colleagues who was on the plane delayed for a while, and he had some pretty bad problems.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
GRAY: But I was really thankful that I had that opportunity.
O'BRIEN: David, same for you?
MCCORKELL: Same thing. I had many hours of talking one on one with my minister.
O'BRIEN: And what do you think about the book? Is it hard to read, is it good? Is it a -- is it a good thing that it was done?
GRAY: I found it very difficult to read with wet eyes, but, as I said I've learned so much from the book, the things I didn't know.
MCCORKELL: Yes, Gary brought it all together, you know, like no one else could do. By doing all the research, and hundreds of interviews, he brought it together for me, and I'm proud of that book, as probably he is.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, this is going to be a hard day, I'm sure -- but I'm sure in some sense a very gratifying day. The term closure of overused, I won't use it, but nevertheless, it's got to be good to have an opportunity to speak to these people, and tell them how you feel.
GRAY: Absolutely. Yeah.
O'BRIEN: All right, Edward Gray, David McCorkell, we wish you well; safe flying in the future.
Gary Pomerantz, a great job on the book. It really is, it's a wonderful read, I highly recommend it. As I say, I'm a little blurry eyed this morning, as a result of it, but you did a wonderful job filling in some gaps on stories we cover really in shorthand form most of the time.
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