Ouachita Parish History Tidbits

A West Monroe Stewardess Survives a Brutal Plane Crash

One of my Antique Alley purchases was a Monroe Magazine published in March, 1966. The following page piqued my curiosity.

Twenty six year old Toni Faye Ketchell, a graduate of West Monroe High School, had just graduated from Stewardess training a few months earlier when she boarded American Airlines flight 383 from New York to Cincinnati on November 8, 1965. The flight was carrying 57 passengers and 5 crew members. On approach to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, KY in bad weather, the 747 plowed into the ground. Only three passengers and one flight attendant, Toni, survived. She had been thrown from the wreckage. No exact cause for the crash has been said, but it was suspected a number of factors lead to the crash.

Miss Ketchell suffered compound fractures of both legs and internal injuries. It took her months in the hospital and rehab before she was able to come home. Due to her extensive injuries, she was unable to return to flying. She became a vocal advocate for airline cabin safety and PTSD awareness. She passed away in Monroe on December 14, 2017.

To read more about the crash, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_383_(1965) .

One response to “A West Monroe Stewardess Survives a Brutal Plane Crash”

  1. Evelyn (Lyn) Wischer Miller Avatar
    Evelyn (Lyn) Wischer Miller

    I had just started my first job after graduating high school in Covington, Ky. when the crash occurred. I worked in the office in the Radiology Dept. at St. Elizab eth Hospital. Part of my duties was to type reports of the results from x-rays as the radiologist “read” them. I remember Toni Ketchell was frequently brought down to the department on the main floor during her lengthy stay as an inpatient. I don’t know if it was true, but it was said she was found wrapped around a tree. I thought about her often over the years and wondered what became of her. I later told my husband and our sons how I wondered if I had chosen the right job, being exposed to such suffering at such a young age just entering the workforce. I wound up staying there 3 years before taking a job in the marketing dept. of the Drackett Co. in Cincinnati, wound up meeting my husband through my coworker and roommate, and having 4 sons in that same hospital. It is now 2026 and I still check on the status of one of the few survivors of that tragedy. My husband had become quite ill the year she passed or I might’ve learned sooner. I’m glad she was able to live a long and positive life and was able to help others along the way when so many would’ve focused on their own issues. My much belated condolences to her much younger sister and any other family and friends.

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