Fortunately there were no fatalities among the 40 passengers and crew about the Convair 340/440.

Sixty years after that fateful morning, one survivor is reaching out to tell his story of that day.

“I just decided to put it together, sort of for myself and for my family. That was what motivated me to do it,” said 85-year-old U.S. Army veteran Tony Nagurski.

Born in Minneapolis, Minn., Nagurski had been living in State College for around nine months, where he worked for a company called HRB Singer, which built electronic equipment for the military.

That morning, he was to board several connecting flights on his way to a one-year stint in Pakistan as a field engineer.

“We built reconnaissance systems for the government. The Pakistani pilots flew the plane, but we were part of the ground support. We had some army personnel that worked with it, and I was an advisor on the equipment,” he said.

Nagurski had little experience traveling by plane, but was nonetheless comfortable with the idea as boarded his first flight of the day in Phillipsburg.

“I wanted to be a pilot at one point, but, but never did learn to fly. But I had flown in small two and four seater airplanes,” he said.

Shortly after his connecting flight took off from the Williamsport-Lycoming County Airport smoke and fire were observed coming from the right engine, though from his seat, Nagurski was unable to see that.

“The flight attendant had gone to the front to talk to the captain, and then made a PA announcement saying we’re having trouble with one engine, and we’re going back to the airport,” Nagurski said.

Seeing the engine on his side of the plane still working, Nagurski had no concerns about the impending crash.

And, aside from the flight attendant’s announcement, he said there was little warning prior to the crash.

“I was looking out the window and I saw the ground was probably 20 feet away, and at that point, you knew you were going to crash,” he said, though he noted that a woman in a yellow dress on the opposite side of the plane reported let out a scream upon seeing the smoke and flames.

“I was about three rows away and did not hear her scream. It sort of shows you how we focus on different things and notice different things, and how we react differently,” Nagurski said.

As the plane approached the ground, it pitched up and down and rolled slightly, he said.

“One wing hit a telephone pole, the other wing hit some trees, and eventually both wings had broken off, but we were at the right angle and the right speed when we hit the ground, and as a result, we all survived,” he said.

Many of the passengers escaped through a hole that broke in the fuselage.

“I tripped as I went through that hole and my leg got caught in the metal, and it was maybe two feet to the ground and two people walked over the top of my leg, and neither one of them stopped to help me up,” Nagurski said. Adding that once getting up, he stayed to help several people off of the plane.

“The pilot was injured, and people got together and we helped carry him up the hill,” he added.

Nagurski’s first thought after exiting the plane was to move away due to the chance it could explode.

Though the engine did not explode, it soon erupted and spread to the fuselage and consumed the entire plane. Luckily by that point, everyone was off the plane.

As he was departing, Nagurski grabbed his camera and took several pictures of the aftermath, which the Federal Aviation Administration would later use during their investigation.

Shortly after impact, a plane that had been on the runway as Nagurski’s flight took off passed overhead.

“After we crashed, the tower told that airplane to look for us, because they hadn’t heard back. I looked up at that plane and said, ‘you know, I’m really glad I’m here on the ground, because those people have to fly for another hour or so, and they have to think about the fact that they just saw a plane crash,'” he joked.

A year later, the Civil Aeronautics Board would determine that the crash was caused by the failure of the front row master rod and all the associated link rods, leading to engine failure.

“The Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the crew to implement proper procedures for an engine failure on takeoff,” a Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive report noted.

Nagurski would, fortunately, suffer only a cut to the back of his hand, leaving a scar a couple inches long.

Nagurski’s bandaged hand would be photographed as he made a phone call home to his parents.

The reporter who took the picture chided Nagurski for not revealing his athletic familial ties.

“My father played pro football and is considered one of the greatest football players of all time,” Nagurski said of his father, Bronislau “Bronko” Nagurski, who played with the Chicago Bears from 1930 to 1937, before making a one season return in 1943.

“He must have been a sports fan familiar with my father’s name, and recognized it,” Nagurski laughed.

Nagurski would spend one night in the hospital, and after an exam the next day, was on his way.

But it would not be smooth sailing, as all of his luggage, including his passport, credit cards and government credentials were lost in the crash, necessitating his return to State College.

“Three weeks later, I left on the same flight, on Friday the 13th, and it turns out that there were three of us on that plane that had been in the crash,” he said.

Nagurski would eventually make it to Pakistan, spending only four of his scheduled 18 months there before being transferred to Turkey for another nine months.

All these years later, Nagurski is still astounded by the community response to the crash.

“I could not believe how a small town would respond to a catastrophe, and everybody pulled together, and the stories that I read in your newspaper about what people did and how they responded. It was just amazing to me, and I’m sure you have people there that still remember, and were part of it,” he said.

Though Nagurski would move past the incident, it did take time.

“I was probably nervous for the next 10 years, and was, and still am, very aware of sounds in the airplane when we’re flying, but you just have to get on board and do it,” he said, noting that since then, he and his wife have been to over 50 countries.

“After the accident, I said, ‘I’m a young man. I’m going to be traveling probably the rest of my life. So I better get over this and get back in the air again,” said.

“You can’t be afraid of it, and the statistics are that it’s more dangerous driving to the airport than it is flying,” Nagurski said.

Nagurski views the anniversary as an opportunity to look back and appreciate how lucky he and the other survivors were.

I’ve had several close calls throughout my life and, and this was one,” Nagurski said.

“If we had hit the ground one second sooner or one second later, I think we all would have perished,” he said.

“It obviously wasn’t our time, but you just never know when your time is and why God saves us for something else,” Nagurski said.

“Interestingly enough, I grew up in International Falls, Minn., and my high school class was 144, and out of that 144, two of us were in plane crashes,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the other gentleman did not survive, but the odds that two people out of such a small number would be in crashes, I think, is fairly slim. I was the fortunate one,” he said.

“I’ve had a good, long life since then, and been very, very lucky,” Nagurski said.

Even as serious as the accident was, Nagurski takes some humor with the experience.

“I’ve always said that I’m the safest person in the world to fly with, because statistically, the fact that you would be in one crash is very, very small, and to be in two crashes, that that’s unheard of, so I’m pretty safe to fly with,” he said.