The Lost Lives of the Clipper Malay

December 12, 1968: Boeing 707, Pan American Clipper Malay - Flight 217 - New York to Caracas, was supposed to be an uneventful and ordinary four-hour flight. Some were traveling for the holidays. Some were going home after a business trip. Some were returning from a family funeral. Some were doing their job. All shared the same final destiny. Three minutes before landing, the airplane disappeared from the control tower radar screen. The aircraft crashed into the ocean resulting in the tragic death of all passengers and crew. The recovery process was gruesome and long. The upcoming festive holiday season turned bleak. Fifty years later, in 2018, a different tragedy became the underpinning force that brought to light the stories of the Clipper Malay: the death of Diego Moreno, killed in the line of duty, in Washington State. This misfortune helped to develop, piece, by piece, the Clipper Malay story: a commercial flight, an airplane sunk at the bottom of the sea, fifty-one lives lost, the pain after the loss, what is to lose more than one member of the family, coping with memorials to honor the victims, and, knowing that fate, cannot be changed. The death of one beautiful human being helped to bring alive the lives of fifty-one.