Families find way to honor couple lost in air tragedy

By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Ten years later, the crash of USAir Flight 427 still evokes painful memories for the Ricchiuti and Rubino families, who lost loved ones in the accident.
But they are grateful that the memories of Anthony Rich and his wife, Paula Rubino Rich, who died in the crash, live on at the Rich Center for Autism at Youngstown State University.
Coming from Chicago, USAir Flight 427 crashed in Hopewell, Pa., shortly after 7 p.m. Sept. 8, 1994, just seven miles from a landing at Pittsburgh International Airport. All 127 passengers and five crew members were killed.
'This void'
"It never goes away. There's always this void in your life. You always have this lump in your gut that just doesn't disappear," said Phyllis Ricchiuti of Poland, mother of Anthony Rich.
"The center has brought us some satisfaction that we have turned the awful thing that happened to us into something positive for the people of our community," she said of the autism center, which the two families helped to establish in 1995.
"You don't cry every day like you did initially, but you still remember them, and you still think about them every day," said Dr. Robert Ricchiuti, Anthony's father.
"We have no ill feelings against the airlines. Our son was a pilot, and he died doing what he wanted to do," Phyllis Ricchiuti said. When she expressed worry about his safety in the air, Anthony told her, "Just know, if I ever get killed in an airplane, I died happy," she recalled.
The Riches went back to their ancestral name, Ricchiuti, because Anthony and Paula had discussed making this change. "We thought, if the kids wanted to do it, maybe we should," Phyllis Ricchiuti explained.
Had visited Italy
Paula and Anthony Rich, of North Yarmouth, Maine, formerly of Poland, had been visiting the Rubino family's village in Italy with Paula's parents, Fernando and Rose Rubino of Poland, when the two couples got separated for the flight home. The Rubinos flew home on TWA, but the Riches had to take another flight because, for unknown reasons, TWA wouldn't accept their tickets.
"It gets a little softer, but it doesn't ever go away, especially this time of year," said Fernando Rubino, a general contractor, who donated his time, along with others, and used donated materials to make the Rich Center wheelchair-accessible 18 months ago.
"We miss them so much. We can only imagine how many children they might have had and what they would have been like," Rose Rubino said.
"I have meltdowns all of August and September because it's my birthday. It's Paula's birthday. It's their wedding anniversary and the anniversary of their death," said Rose Rubino. The Riches were married Sept. 5, 1992, and Paula was four months pregnant with their first child when she died.
Rose Rubino also said the birthday of her daughter, Jacqueline Marchionda of Poland, also falls at the same time of year.
Reason for autism center
The autism center was established because Anthony and Paula Rich were godparents to Marchionda's son, Christopher, who had been diagnosed with autism just before the crash, Phyllis Ricchiuti explained. Christopher, now 13, attends the Rich Center's summer program.
"They would be so proud of what we have done in their names to help families in our community," Phyllis Ricchiuti said of her son and daughter-in-law.
Besides Phyllis Ricchiuti, Rose Rubino and Jacqueline Marchionda, the other co-founders of the Rich Center are Geri Kosar and her daughter, Beth Kosar, both of Boardman, and all are still on the board of directors. Beth Kosar's sons, Brian and Josh, both autistic, attend the center's summer program.
Cause of crash
As for the crash and its cause, Marchionda and the Rubinos attended the hearings of the National Transportation Safety Board, which were part of the longest aircraft accident investigation in the board's history. The investigation concluded in March 1999, with the board determining that a rudder reversal likely caused the crash.
"We haven't had any other accidents like that since then. It was such a freak thing. It was so freaky because it was absolutely the most gorgeous day -- not a cloud in the sky. The temperature was perfect. They could see the runway in front of them," Phyllis Ricchiuti said.
"I feel that they investigated it very well," Dr. Ricchiuti said. In previous rudder reversal incidents, the planes were at higher altitudes, which allowed an opportunity for recovery, he observed. "With our kids, unfortunately, they were making an approach, and they were only a mile or so off the ground, and there was no way they could recover in time," he added.
Rose Rubino noted that, since the accident, recovery from rudder reversals has been included in pilot training.
"Ten years seems like yesterday. Nevertheless, it does amaze me that people still, almost on a daily basis, express their sympathy for our loss. We feel blessed by that. We feel especially blessed with this center here. It does give us a lot of consolation," Dr. Ricchiuti said at the Rich Center, where he and his wife and the Rubinos were interviewed.
The Ricchiuti and Rubino families have remained close to each other over the past decade. "We get along so well, and I hope we continue that way the rest of our lives. We have to stick together and go on," Fernando Rubino concluded.