Air Florida Flight 90 Crash
Deadliest air crash in the history of the Washington National Airport took away 78 lives and prompted substantial changes in air travel safety procedures.
January 13, 1982, was a cold, blustery day. It was snowing, and the Potomac River was frozen. Washington National Airport was closed the previous night, but as the snowfall began to ease, it reopened by noon under "marginal conditions."
Air Florida's Boeing 737-222 was scheduled to depart for Tampa, Florida, but was delayed due to a backlog of other departures and arrivals. The captain requested the plane's deicing as it was still snowing and the temperature was below freezing.
At that time, rules for aircraft deicing were more relaxed than today, so the mixture used was different for both wings. After deicing, the plane waited in the taxiing lane for 49 minutes when a new layer of snow covered the wings. However, fearing another lengthy delay, the captain didn't request additional deicing. The crew also failed to remember to activate the engine anti-ice system.
Before departure and during takeoff, the captain, inexperienced in flying in snowy conditions, made a series of additional mistakes that caused the plane to lose power and stall quickly. After only 30 seconds in the air, the plane crashed into the 14th Street Bridge and fell into the frozen river, breaking into several pieces. Only the tail section stayed above the water.
At that time, the bridge was full of slowly moving passenger vehicles due to the early closings due to blizzard conditions. Many nearby witnesses immediately started rescuing survivors from the plane's tail section.
Others, in the submerged sections of the plane, were unreachable due to the icy cold water, broken ice, and lack of proper equipment nearby.
Out of 74 passengers and five crew members, only four passengers and one crew member were rescued.
Four other people were killed in the cars on the bridge.
Many ordinary citizens, together with first responders, exhibited sheer heroism fighting to save lives, especially the so-called "sixth passenger," who survived the crash but repeatedly passed the rescue line to other survivors, finally succumbing to hypothermia in the freezing water.
The investigation of the crash resulted in numerous changes in air safety procedures and pilot training reforms.
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