Pan Am Flight 759, a documentary by filmmaker Royd Anderson, will be screened twice at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 Napoleon, Metairie, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the crash.

The first screening will occur at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 9.

The second screening will occur at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 25.

The extra screenings are occurring because of the overwhelming popularity of the documentary. A previous screening on Saturday, July 9 during an estimated crowd of 175, some of whom could not get into the room to view the documentary.

Each screening is free of charge and open to the public. Registration is not required. The filmmaker will be present at the screenings.

Pan Am Flight 759 crashed less than one minute after it took off on a stormy afternoon from New Orleans International Airport on July 9, 1982, killing all 146 people on board and eight people on the ground. The Boeing 727 jet plowed into south Kenner’s Morningside Park neighborhood. At the time, it was the nation’s second-deadliest crash.

Pan Am 759 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Miami to Las Vegas, with a stop in New Orleans. At the time of Flight 759's takeoff on July 9, 1982, there were thunderstorms over the east end of the airport. Microburst wind shear caused by that afternoon's powerful thunderstorm was blamed for the catastrophe, with the plane rapidly losing altitude almost immediately after taking off. The crash helped spur the development of sophisticated equipment incorporating Doppler radar to detect wind shear.

Royd Anderson specializes in documentary films pertaining to tragic events in Louisiana that he says are overlooked by historians. In 2006, Anderson wrote and directed the documentary The Luling Ferry Disaster for his master's degree thesis project in communication at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The film recounts the story of the worst ferry disaster in U.S. history in which 77 lives were lost.

For more information regarding this presentation, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.