♪♪ -Welcome to Windows to the Wild, I’m Willem Lange.

Today we take you to Newfound Lake, where at risk youth, find resilience.

Also, just off a section of the Appalachian Trail lie the remains of Flight 792.

Its journey ended on November 30th, 1954, but the legacy of that flight remains.

First, there are more than 4000 miles of trails in New Hampshire.

For a long time, they were reserved mostly for hiking.

Now, runners have discovered the thrill of trail running.

You're about to meet someone who’ll show us how to get the runners off the road.

♪♪ -Been a trail runner for over 20 years.

Kind of just got hooked on it.

I got hooked on the whole vibe of, running in the woods, being outside and, and slowing down a little bit and, enjoying where I was at.

♪♪ Usually on every run, there's something that catches your eye or something that sticks with you some, some memorable moment, or you run into somebody, somebody else that's running out there like yesterday I came up on this lady who was running a little bit slower than I was and didn't want to scare her so I said hello and I got, you know, 15ft behind her, and she said hello and then she said, you know, thank you for saying hello, and I was like, that’s kind of strange and yeah, it can be kind of lonely out here.

And, and then in my next breath, I said, well, that's one of the reasons I like being out here.

You can be in your own thoughts, you know?

You need to be aware of your footing, obviously, because especially in New England, the footing is-- Do you want to go out?

I’ll let them out.

[paws scamper on floor] ♪♪ It's, it's a unique experience.

Every individual or every trail runner that's out there, they probably get something a little bit different.

It's kind of what it's all about you know?

I'm just kind of figuring out, you know what, what makes you tick when you're out there?

♪♪ [leaves rustling in wind] One of my buddies, his explanation and I kind of buy it to some degree, is that it's good to test your body and see what your body can do, how your mind reacts to it.

You know, that's information that we can all use.

How do we react to to certain stressful situations, whether it be physical stress or mental stress?

♪♪ For me, a lot of it is, is self-respect having that knowledge that you can push your body to the, to the limit.

It's gratifying when, when, when you can tough it out.

[leaves rustle in wind] That first step out the doors is the hardest.

[leaves crunching] When it's when it's all said and done, it's worth it.

♪♪ [leaves crunch] Part, part of the environment in trail running is really supportive.

I can't remember how many times, you know, if I'm in a bad place and someone would come up on me and they'll say, you know, this is, is there something I can do to help you?

Can I give you a salt tab?

Do you need any calories?

You got enough water?

Even from the top down from those elite athletes there is a feeling of, yeah, I want to win this race, but I'm not going to win it at somebody else's expense.

It's really, really nice you know?

It's really a, a good thing.

[leaves crunching] Part of it I think is just being in the woods.

♪♪ It's just you and your feet on the, on the ground, just more relaxing, and more, that's conducive to being yourself you know?

Being who you, you’re, that compassionate person that you are so, yeah.

♪♪ [ground crunching] Just try to keep moving.

Just, just sometimes you may think you're going, ♪♪ way too slow and, but you're moving forward.

You're getting closer to the finish you know?

It's just, just the way it is.

[Rich chuckles] -Newfound Lake is in Bristol, New Hampshire.

Just off its shore is an island where at risk boys are challenged to believe in themselves.

It's where they practice, respect, responsibility and develop a sense of community through outdoor living.

[shouting] -Five, four, three, two, one, go!

[boys shout] [water splashing] -Mayhew is a pretty pretty unique program.

♪♪ Could even say maybe one of a kind within the United States.

♪♪ -This is Mayhew Island in Newfound Lake, just offshore from Bristol, New Hampshire.

The Island became a refuge of sorts when in 1920, the Groton School Camp was established here.

It's changed over time.

Buildings fell into disrepair and were then rebuilt.

♪♪ ♪♪ [hubbub] What began as the Groton School Camp is now known as the Mayhew Program.

-I grew up in Rhode Island, so, ♪♪ lived and worked on Block Island for a number of summers and I was like, well I want to go live on an island again.

My name is Greg Stoutzenberger.

I'm the program director for Mayhew.

I live in Harrisville, New Hampshire, but make Mayhew Island my home in the summer.

I've worked for Mayhew, for close to 15 years.

Gentlemen nice job getting quiet when the flap goes down thank you very much.

I don't know if anybody got-- -For more than 100 years, the island has been a place away.

So-called needy boys from New England spend summers here to find their place in nature.

[inaudible announcement] The mission of Mayhew today is to challenge and help at risk boys from New Hampshire.

-I think at risk is one of those sort of more challenging terms in a lot of organizations might be going away from, from that.

♪♪ And we had a board meeting and a guest speaker at the board meeting this past spring where we talked about how, you know, nowadays you can almost consider any youth at risk, there’s so many different challenges that kids face in regards to technology, in regards to, you know, the peer pressure at school and in their home communities.

But for the Mayhew Program, we work-- all the boys that we work with come from households where their income is at or below the poverty line.

[indistinct background chatter] Over 50% of the boys that we work with come from single mother households.

And, for those that are familiar with adverse childhood experiences, the boys that we work with would, score pretty high, on, on that ACE scale.

So those are the things that we would look at and consider at risk.

♪♪ [Willem narrating] -Starting at the age of ten, boys spend summers on the island tuition free.

-Three, two, one, go!

[water churning] [Willem narrating] -They can return every summer right through high school graduation.

-I think the program works by, [water splashes faintly] you know, primarily giving these guys something to belong to.

And that sense of belonging is super important for youth nowadays.

But the foundation for the programing starts right here on the island.

And getting the guys to realize that they're part of something that's bigger than themselves.

[muffled water splashing] On top of that, what really works is the continuation and follow up throughout the school year, throughout the summers, and the guys that stay involved potentially through their whole middle and high school careers.

If you think about Mayhew one thing that I think people should take away is the longevity of our programing.

The fact that we're working with guys for up to eight years is, is, you know, pretty important to, you know, helping, those guys build success to have a trusted adult in their life and to have this organization and program that, you know, helps them believe in themselves before maybe even they believe in themselves, you know, so you [basketball dribbles] [sneakers scuffing] [cheering] -I am, the adventure counselor.

I don't know if they're doing adventure.

I know I'm doing adventure after lunch.

[faintly] -Okay.

♪♪ -Boys 14 years or older who’ve spent summers on the island can apply to work for the program.

-My name is Johnny.

I was a boy in the program, in 2015 and 2016.

Ended up working in the kitchen for a few summers, and ultimately just made the decision to come out here as a counselor four summers ago.

Ow, that one stung a little bit.

[exclaiming] That one hurt.

-Jonny's school guidance counselor told him about the Mayhew Program, his mother strongly encouraged him to give it a try.

[inaudible announcement] -I grew up with like a single mom.

And as a kid, I gave her so much flak and, and I felt bad about it later on, but I, and I tell her sorry all the time.

♪♪ But coming out here to Mayhew kind of instills, like, core values.

And it was one of those things that, like, I, you know, I would argue with my mom, and then I came out here, tried to do my absolute best, went home and like, I was, my mom could tell you, like I was a totally different kid when I got home.

♪♪ -This is more than a summer away from home.

The goal is to help boys develop a sense of respect for themselves and each other.

[water churns] [inaudible speaking] [water churns] [inaudible speaking] -And in this case, ♪♪ respect for camp rules.

-So I, you know, presented Julius to, to the lodge.

One of the things that we really emphasize here is participation.

And, he was kind of just messing around, not really focusing on the on what the group was up to.

And I asked him if he was participating or messing around.

He just said, messing around.

So one of the kind of consequences of, of not following expectations is you get asked to step aside and you kind of do nothing.

-Hey Jonny, I've got Julius here.

Sounded like you presented him because he was just unwilling to participate.

But, you know, he was willing to give it a try and I wanted him to get that opportunity.

Well, thank you John.

Thank you.

Julius, thank you.

-Teamwork is essential to a lot of the activities.

♪♪ [water splashes] [announcing faintly] -Or try something different-- -The boys work together on maintenance projects.

♪♪ There are cookouts, art programs, and plenty of physical activities.

♪♪ Look around, and you can see how the outdoors is an important part of the Mayhew Program.

♪♪ -Yeah, I think I think one of the one of the key aspects of Mayhew is, is just the, the space you know a lot of the guys that we work with are here because they are struggling with their behaviors at home or at school.

They're, they're struggling with the ability to regulate their emotions in appropriate ways, and I think the physical activity in this outdoor setting is a great way for 10, 11, 12 year old boys to expel some of that energy in a positive and productive way.

And I think just the ability to, to, you know, you know, see the sunsets or just kind of hear the, the waves lapping against the shore, I think in ways that, you know, these young guys don't even recognize it's just such a huge support for them.

[chuckling] [indiscernible shouting] [water splashes] You know we always talk about with our off-island day hikes, you know, once they go through that physical and mental and emotional challenge of hiking up and down a pretty, you know, significant mountain, you know, when they get to the top, they get to enjoy that view and no one can take that from them.

And that's theirs and theirs alone to keep.

And I think that it's it's empowering in so many different ways.

It's helpful in so many different ways and, you know, for a lot of these guys, even though they live in the state of New Hampshire, they might not get to experience things like this and that's really going back to the roots of, you know, what Mayhew is, is that ability to take, you know, kiddos in certain situations and give them a unique opportunity that they might not get, but specifically in that outdoor natural setting.

♪♪ [raindrops patter] -I think, it gives the kids the opportunity, like, in certain moments to kind of chill, ♪♪ I tend to try and preach, like, you know, if you're, if you're just chilling and hanging out, just kind of think about, like what you're listening to, what you're seeing, you know?

And if you sit still and really quiet, then like, maybe some animals will start skirting across the trails and it's like something really cool to see.

So I try and preach that as like, like a method of, of, you know, self resolution?

♪♪ And I hope the kids pick up on it.

♪♪ -The program runs for three weeks.

Then as summer fades and the boys return home, staff members continue to meet with them.

-The boys who start at 10 or 11, we work with all the way through high school graduation.

And the uniqueness is the pairing of the summer program with the, the school year support that we offer the guys in their home communities.

♪♪ -Boys have found guidance on Mayhew Island, for more than 100 years.

♪♪ -Good morning guys how are you?

-Great.

-How's everything going?

-Great.

-And it continues.

Perhaps that's its greatest feature.

♪♪ -Robert Louis Stevenson reminded us not to measure success by today's harvest, [bell rings] but by the seeds you plant today.

♪♪ [applause] -I think my favorite thing about doing this job is watching the other kids throughout the years just kind of grow.

-Nice work kid.

-I love seeing that.

I love just kind of being there for the kids, like one of one of my things that I say every year I come out is I want to give the kids, like, a better summer than what I had.

And I had some great summers.

So I'm just really trying to, trying to add to it and keep the positivity and like, fun flowing for these guys.

There's two minutes.

Take your time as you slow it down-- -Jonny is someone who was greatly affected by Mayhew in a positive way.

And very early on once he could, realized he wanted to pay it forward.

-I know when I was a kid, like, I'd go home and I'd be like, the best kid ever for like three months, and then I’d kind of, kind of dip back into the old ways, and I’d come back out here.

-He's someone who always feels that the work that the counselors, the summer counselors did with him as a, as a, as a young boy and the outreach workers that worked with him in the community here.

[indiscernible speaking] He's always someone that's wanted to kind of give that back to, you know, the younger, you know, individuals here at Mayhew and support them in the way that he was supported.

I, I think that's a testament to to who he is.

♪♪ [Jonny instructs] -I guess just, just Mayhew is one of those places where, you know, we try and eliminate any, any outside interference for the kids so that they can just focus on themselves.

And that's what we try and do is we try and, try and instill the values of, of teamwork, cooperation, and just trying to find, the best version of you that you possibly can be.

♪♪ [music fades] [water churns] [water churns] -In 1954, Northeast Airline Flight 792 left Boston for Berlin, New Hampshire.

Unfortunately, it didn't make its intended destination.

Hikers along the Appalachian Trail, now visit its resting place on Mount Success.

That's where this story begins.

♪♪ Just below the peak of Mount Success, you can find the aluminum wreckage of a Douglas DC-3 passenger plane.

This is 70 years ago, a tale of luck and survival unfolded here.

♪♪ Today the aircraft rests among the trees, collecting signatures from hikers as it slowly returns to the earth.

This is the story of how a White Mountain landmark was born.

This is the story of flight 792 to Berlin, New Hampshire.

♪♪ ♪♪ [jet engine whines] ♪♪ -It's a great story because it's real.

It's not made up, not something that was written for a book, but it reads like that or it tells like that, and I think that's one of the things that makes it interesting.

-When I hiked up to the crash site myself about 15 years ago, that was, it was really quite a moment for me to to see that my dad had always, ♪♪ wanted to hike back up there with me and, it just never worked out.

-The story goes that on November 30th, 1954, a DC-3 passenger plane, Northeast Airlines which was a small airline based in Boston, was on a, regularly scheduled flight.

-So dad was on a very routine flight from Boston to Concord to Laconia and then on to Berlin.

They ran into some bad weather.

-It was November, so winter was coming, and in fact, winter had arrived.

When they got up above the White Mountains it's usually a nice ride and in clear whether it must be spectacular, but, at that point, a snow squall developed over the higher altitudes, and so the plane lost visibility.

At the time, instrument flying was in its infancy.

-Flight 792 lost its most vital navigation equipment.

Its ADF malfunctioned.

ADF is an automatic direction finder, and it was an instrument-- It's an instrument that homes in on ground based beacons and shows, the crew where in relation to that ground based beacon, they are.

-You need it to be at least above 8000ft to clear Mount Washington, which was 6288ft.

Once you did that, you'd have to descend quite quickly to get to Berlin, because I believe the airfield’s elevation was just 2000ft, so that's quite a drop to be able to get to that airfield and land safely.

♪♪ So before they got to Mount Washington, they got enveloped in a snow squall.

♪♪ -And apparently the ADF stopped functioning when the plane was on approach northwest rather of Berlin.

-They came in a little bit too low over something called Mount Success, which is not one of the more well-known mountains.

It's not a tall mountain it's only like 3400ft at the highest.

And it doesn't have a peak either.

It's just a big round hump.

And the plane came in low enough before they could do anything to see what was in front of them, they had hit the trees at the top of the mountain, and the plane got tangled into the what's called the krummholz, which is, the those gnarled, fir trees that, that, can survive at that in that environment.

The front of the plane really took the brunt of it.

-My understanding is that on impact all three in, in the, on the flight deck went through the windshield.

My dad, his copilot and the Northeast dispatcher who was riding the jump seat behind them.

My dad was the only one who survived.

-Peter Carey, the pilot, was also injured.

His head suffered a gash that was, large, and he was losing a lot of blood, but they were able to, stitch him back together fore long and he was able to participate in stabilizing everyone else and took charge of the the scene.

-But evidently he was well enough, barely fit enough to put out a fire.

And, with the help of his stewardess, who was a lady named Mary McEttrick, she in many ways was, was always, you know, a hero in my dad's book and in my family's book.

-She tended to some of the injuries.

She kept everybody spirits up.

And when they got rescued, it was her photo that seemed to have been the one that was put all over the newspapers as the face of flight 792.

[flicking] -Mary and the three passengers in the back who all survived basically unharmed no serious injuries at all.

Basically kept my dad alive for the next, you know, three days.

-There was, nothing on the plane to eat.

It was below zero.

It was just this really cold stretch that they had, happened to fly into, and they had to make do with no heat and, just get through the next two days not knowing when they would be rescued, and it was the morning of the third day, they were finally spotted by, an observer on a on a Northeast Airlines reconnaissance flight.

And as soon as the location was pinpointed, helicopters came by and lifted everyone out.

-And it was then, Fish and Game, that cut their way into the crash site.

My dad, so frozen, so injured that, they couldn't actually get him into the helicopter.

He was basically, stretchered out underneath the, the helicopter and, and, taken out.

He was really in bad, bad shape and, and, spent weeks at Mass General Hospital following the accident.

-The cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error.

And Northeast Airlines management, fired him.

What really wasn't covered well in, in the, Accident Investigation Report that Civil Aeronautics Board put together was the equipment failure.

-And that was one of the contributing factors to them losing their situational awareness and winding up hitting Mount Success.

-My dad actually had to hike up to the crash site, the following spring with an engineer to retrieve that ADF equipment.

♪♪ The Government didn’t do that.

The Civil Aeronautics Board didn’t do that.

My dad and an engineer had to do that.

♪♪ -I don't think with anyone's permission, He just went up and did this and then had it brought to a lab and had independent tests made to verify its inaccuracy and-- -That was, you know a huge part of his effort to, to vindicate himself.

-He was able to mount a court case against the airline.

It took, I think, seven years for a judgment to finally be made in his favor and the court ordered Northeast Airlines to reinstate Peter Carey with, ♪♪ all the back pay he would have been, owed from that time and also seniority, which is very important to a pilot.

He was able to get back into the position he would have had had he been flying that whole time.

But Mary, she stayed with Northeast Airlines for the next 18 years.

By then, it wasn't necessary for you to be single, to be a flight attendant so she kept with the career.

After Northeast Airlines was purchased with, purchased by Delta Airlines in 1972, and she continued to fly with Delta well into the jet age.

I'm not sure of her retirement date, but it was, sometime in the late 80s or early 90s.

But for someone, a young woman, to be involved in an airline, first of all, but then to go through like that and a story like that and then come back and continue to work for the airline, it shows a real adventurous spirit that, Mary exemplified, I think she's a good representative of the women of that era, and why they got involved with aviation.

It was a real thrill to do something like that and not everyone was able to do it but she was.

♪♪ -Well we’ve come once again to that part of the show that I've always liked least, the time we have to say goodbye.

But we do.

So I'll say goodbye.

I’m Willem Lange, thank you for watching Windows to the Wild.

♪♪ Support for the production of Windows to the Wild is provided by the Alice J. Reen Charitable Trust.

The John D McGonagle Foundation, The Bailey Charitable Foundation, Road Scholar and viewers like you.

Thank you!

-Make a gift to the wild and support the Willem Lange Endowment Fund, established by a friend of New Hampshire PBS, to learn how you can keep environmental, nature and outdoor programing possible for years to come, call our development team at (603) 868-4467.

Thank you.

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