Flight of Redemption

The plane jarred violently as it climbed into the gray February night sky, but the 95 passengers onboard were not dismayed.  After being grounded an additional 3 hours for severe weather, some were already asleep, and all were excited to be leaving snowy and icy New York on their way to beautiful, sunny Miami, Florida on February 1st, 1957. Northeast Airlines Flight 823 had taxied off the runway at LaGuardia Airport less than a minute earlier and was beginning its ascent with captain Alvin Marsh at the controls and co-pilot Basil Dixwell by his side.  The stewardesses had not yet had the chance to offer beverages from the drink cart, and the ice and wind was pelting the south-bound flight, when Dixwell suddenly screamed, “Al, ground coming up!”  But it was too late.  Flight 823, wavered like a bird with a crippled wing, before crashing violently into a patch of trees.  Less than 60 seconds after taking off, it lay, with both wings ripped off and on fire, on a small plot of land just south of the airport.  That parcel of land – was Rikers Island – home to one of the most notorious prisons in the country.  This gripping story is our focus on this Missing Chapter Short.