Julie Gottesman was killed on December 7, 1987, when Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashed near Cayucos, California, after an onboard shooting. The perpetrator, David Burke, a former employee of USAir, reportedly brought a concealed firearm onto the flight, shot his former supervisor Ray Thomson, and then shot the pilots; the aircraft descended rapidly and broke up on impact, killing all 43 people aboard, including Gottesman, who was a flight attendant on her first training flight.

The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were used to reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the crash. Burke died in the incident, so there were no arrests related to the hijacking; the tragedy prompted changes in airline security, including enhanced passenger and baggage screening and measures to secure cockpit access.

If anyone knew Julie Gottesman or has information about her role on that flight, please share memories or details.