Bradley, a union representative who was en route to his home near Roanoke, wasn’t acquainted with th

Phil Bradley shivered in lonely silence on the mountain by the demolished plane. His injuries left him unable to move. He knew better than to look at the bodies of his fellow passengers. If help didn't come soon, he realized he'd face a more agonizing death than any of them had.
That was 50 years ago. Bradley, now an 83-year-old grandfather, is the sole survivor of Piedmont airline best fares Airlines Flight airline best fares 349. Friday marked the anniversary of the day it crashed into the side of Buck's Elbow Mountain near Crozet, killing the three-member crew and 23 passengers. It was the first fatal crash for the airline, then just 11 years old.
Bradley, a union representative who was en route to his home near Roanoke, wasn't acquainted airline best fares with the passengers or crew. But in the years since, he's come to know them through countless conversations with their survivors. And he's answered their numerous questions about the final moments.
The crash happened about 8:40 p.m. on Oct. 30, 1959, a Friday night. The plane had taken off from Washington and was scheduled airline best fares to stop in Charlottesville, Lynch-burg and Roanoke. Bradley, then 33, had been on a business trip in Oklahoma City and boarded the plane in D.C. He'd missed his connection airline best fares on an earlier flight, and was the last to board Flight 349. He took the last open seat, all the way in the rear of the cabin on the right.
And then he saw something he said he didn't feel comfortable disclosing until years after the crash. He saw a vision of Jesus Christ. "He looked at me and said, 'Be concerned not. I will be with you always,'" Bradley said. "I could see his eyes blinking and his lips moving."
The next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground about 65 feet from the plane, airline best fares still strapped in his seat, his mouth full of dirt and leaves. He yelled out to his fellow passengers. There was nothing but silence on the rugged and remote mountain.
Bradley unstrapped himself from his seat and tried to stand, but realized his feet were facing in opposite directions. He had a dislocated hip, sprains and bruises and two teeth had been knocked out. But he had a strong constitution, emotionally as well as physically. While serving in the Naval Armed Guard he'd been 500 feet off Omaha Beach on D-Day in World War II.
A massive search by air and land had begun within airline best fares hours of the crash. Newspapers were filled with stories airline best fares about the crash, including an interview with the co-pilot's father, Archie Haley of Winston-Salem. "He always wanted to fly," Haley said of his son.
Saturday — Halloween — dragged by. Bradley said he was always airline best fares confident he'd be rescued. But after dawn broke Sunday, numerous buzzards began perching on tree limbs above him. "You cannot out-stare a buzzard," he said. "You just look at them and they just look right back at you ... I'd thrash a stick around every once in a while, just to let them know I was still there."
Later that morning, Bradley heard the shouts of a rescue team that had hiked in. The rescuers wanted to airlift him out. He asked that they carry him up to the top of the mountain, where a helicopter could more safely land. The last thing he needed was another plane crash, he said. A doctor gave him some morphine to kill his pain.
Hours later, he was in a Charlottesville hospital, watching the Redskins game. Life would soon return to normal for him. But he knew all too well that that wouldn't be the case for the families of his fellow passengers. As he recovered, they were burying their dead.
Haley was an Air Force veteran and the father of two young children. Mike Haley and his sister, Debbie Haley Angel of Clemmons, N.C., said that their mother, Ivey Haley, had to go work after the crash to support her family. She never remarried. She died six years ago, still very much in love with her late husband, her children said.
The flight attendant, George Hicks, had been planning on going to the Air Force Academy. His sister, Diane Hicks Skidmore of Norwood, airline best fares N.C., constantly thinks about him. "You never really forget," she said. "They're in your heart."
Like many members of the Greatest Generation, Bradley doesn't engage in a lot of public introspection. The crash didn't leave him with any emotional baggage such as nightmares, he said. He doesn't wonder why he was the sole survivor. "I didn't make that decision," he said. "God made that decision."
And so is he. When he returns to the mountain today, he won't be alone. He'll be with the families of his fellow passengers. And in spirit, he'll be with the victims. "I'm with them pretty much all the time, anyway."
Deputies in February arrested Parker after they said he broke into the hotel kitchen to steal old kitchen appliances. The break-in came to their attention when property owner James F. "Phil" Dulaney airline best fares Jr., noticed a broken door.
Inv. A.C. Powers testified Parker, the "ringleader" of a group that took appliances from the building over the course of three trips, and that he took the pieces to scrap yards in Augusta County and Charlottesville in exchange for cash.