10-Year-Old's Dad Died in Infamous Plane Crash Blamed on Pilots. Then She Learned There Was More to the Story (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

From left: Michelle Brennen as a child with her father, Michael; and the crash of Delta Flight 723 in 1973.Photo:Michelle Brennen; Joseph Dennehy/The Boston Globe via Getty

Michelle Brennen; Joseph Dennehy/The Boston Globe via Getty

When Michelle Brennen heard about American Airlines Flight 5342colliding with an Army helicopteroutside Washington, D.C. on Jan. 29 — the first in a string of high-profile aviation incidents that have killed more than 80 people — she was immediately taken back to her father’s own death in a historic plane crash decades ago.

Brennen was just 10 years old when her dad, Michael Longchamp, was killed on Delta Flight 723 in the summer of 1973. Navigating heavy fog, the jet hit a concrete seawall during its descent into Boston’s Logan International Airport.

Longchamp, a former Air Force tail gunner and “outdoorsy” father of six, was one of 89 people who died.

“It just brought all those memories back about watching the news and trying to find out who was on it,” Brennen, now 62, tells PEOPLE now of the D.C. crash, whichremains under investigation.

Like her father’s infamous flight, there were no survivors in the recent collision that killed 67 people, including the three soldiers on the helicopter, which appears to have beenflying in an unusual way.

Brennen has sympathy for those who died and those left to grieve. She also worries people will look to point fingers.

Pieces of American Airlines Flight 5342 being pulled from the Potomac River.Samuel Corum/Getty

Samuel Corum/Getty

“I worry that there’ll be blame,” says Brennen, an instructional assistant in Vermont. “And that’s the heartbreaking part of it — nobody plans [for] anything like that to happen. So, to put blame, it’s a waste of energy.”

“It was actually quite cathartic,” says Brennen of the memorial, which was held at Logan and included the reveal of a plaque honoring the 89 victims. Delta also sponsored a luncheon at Brennen’s request. Despite the success of the event, Brennen was nervous leading up to it.

“It was a little scary because there were a lot of feelings from the accident itself,” she says. “It was 50 years ago, and even 50 years ago, there was a lot of hurt feelings.”

Michelle Brennen with her dad.Michelle Brennen

Michelle Brennen

In 1973, investigators initially said the crash was the result of pilot error.

Only years later were other factors considered, such as misinformation about the weather, a faulty director in the plane and a distracted air traffic controller, according to former U.S. Army accident investigator Paul Houle,who wrote a bookexamining the disaster.

Brennen says her mom, Patricia Longchamp, never blamed the pilots, Capt. John N. Streil Jr. and Sidney Burrill, who had to navigate thick fog that had prompted other flights to be canceled.

“My mother had always said that she felt so bad for the pilots’ families because obviously they didn’t choose to die in the accident,” says Brennen, who was inspired to hold the memorial after discovering her mother’s box of papers about the crash. (Patricia died in 2021.)

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“It wasn’t anything deliberate that they’d done,” Brennen adds.

“It was the worst day in his life,” Brennen recalls reading. She says it was difficult to hear that some people “blamed” the pilots for the accident. She says she had “never realized” how “horrible” it was for their families.

Brennen says one of the most moving moments was when the granddaughter spoke to the crowd.

“I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place because she spoke about how difficult it was for her father [the pilot’s son] growing up with that,” she says. “It was extremely moving.”

In the wake of the D.C. plane crash and the other incidents, Brennen — who still misses her supportive and “creative” dad — hopes those left behind will be able to support each other.

“Don’t hold grudges,” she says. “Try to embrace everybody who lost somebody in the accident.”

source: people.com