SAN DIEGO (FOX5/KUSI) — Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 went down in North Park nearly 50 years ago, but hearing the news about the deadly plane crash in Washington, D.C. Wednesday night reminded one first responder of the moments he first jumped into action.

“It was like a movie scene. It didn’t — It almost didn’t look real because there was so much carnage and so much destruction and disaster that it was overwhelming to walk up and see that,” said retired San Diego police detective Rick Carlson.

Carlson was one of the first to respond to the scene were the aircraft went down near Dwight and Nile Street on Sept. 25, 1978 after colliding midair with a private Cessna plane while on approach to San Diego International Airport, then named Lindenberg Field. The Cessna fell near Polk Avenue.

No survivors after collision between American Airlines jet, Army helicopter near DC

The crash killed 135 passengers inbound from Sacramento, as well as a number of bystanders who were on the ground when the aircraft fell. The number of casualties made it the deadliest plane crash in U.S. history at the time.

“Where we are walking at right now, this was an entire debris field. Several houses or parts of the houses were gone. One house was completely gone. This whole area was engulfed in flame,” said Carlson, as he walked down the street with FOX 5/KUSI.

When Carlson heard about the American Airlines plane crashing into the Blackhawk helicopter Wednesday night, he said he saw many similarities to the 1978 crash.

“It was a small plane — it was smaller than the helicopter, but it was a training flight,” he explained. “There was inattention on the small plane, they got off course. The large plane — the PSA jet — was on final approach. There was distractions in the in the cockpit because they had people who are deadheading, and those people were distracting the pilots as they were coming on final approach. And there was warnings given by the people that were in charge. They were telling them there was another plane in the area, but they spotted another small plane as they may have done in this one in Washington.”

LISTEN: Audio captures air traffic control at moment of DC crash

The investigation into what caused the D.C. crash is ongoing, but federal officials say the American Airlines plane was set to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Army Blackhawk was on a training flight.

The National Transportation Safety Board expects a preliminary report within 30 days. The focus of D.C. officials now is on recovery efforts along the Potomac River, which Carlson is all too familiar with.

“God be with you. It’s a horrible thing to be going through. It’s going to impact the rest of your life,” Carlson said when asked what he would say to the people in D.C. as they process this disaster.

Carlson added many regulations were changed following the 1978 crash. He expects more to change to come in the wake of the D.C. crash.

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