It was freezing. January 13, 1982, isn't a date most people under 40 remember, but for anyone in D.C. at the time, it’s burned into their brain. Washington National Airport—now Reagan National—was a mess of slush and ice. People were just trying to get home. They were tired. Then, Air Florida Flight 90 clipped the 14th Street Bridge and plunged into the Potomac River.
The Reagan International Airport crash (as we call that site today) remains one of the most studied tragedies in aviation history. 78 people died. Only five survived. It wasn't just a "freak accident." It was a series of small, human choices that piled up until physics simply took over. Honestly, if you look at the cockpit transcripts, it’s heartbreaking. You can hear the confusion. You can hear the moment they realized the plane wasn't going to climb.
Why the Air Florida Flight 90 Disaster Still Haunts D.C.
Most people think plane crashes happen at 30,000 feet. Not this one. This happened in the heart of the capital, in front of thousands of commuters stuck in a snowstorm.
The Boeing 737 was bound for Fort Lauderdale. It was delayed for hours because the airport actually closed due to the heavy snowfall. When it finally got the green light to taxi, the crew made a fateful decision. They used the reverse thrust of the engines to back out of the gate. This is a big no-no in icing conditions. Why? Because it blows slush and wet snow directly into the engine inlets.
The De-Icing Failure
Here is the thing about de-icing: it’s not a one-and-done deal. The plane was de-iced, but then it sat. And sat. For 49 minutes. In that time, more snow accumulated on the wings.
Captain Larry Wheaton and First Officer Roger Pettit were relatively young. They weren't "bad" pilots, but they were dealing with conditions they weren't used to. They tried to use the heat from the jet behind them to melt the ice on their wings. It sounds like a smart "life hack," right? Wrong. It actually turned the slush into a thin, glassy layer of ice that was even harder to see.
The Error No One Saw Coming
The most technical part of the Reagan International Airport crash involves a tiny piece of equipment called a PT2 probe. Because the pilots didn't turn on the engine anti-ice system, these probes iced over.
When the probes freeze, they give false readings to the cockpit.
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The pilots looked at their gauges. The gauges said they were at full power. In reality? The engines were running at significantly less thrust than required for takeoff. The First Officer actually noticed something was off. He mentioned several times that the readings didn't look right.
"That's not right," he said.
But the Captain pushed forward. This is a classic example of "get-there-itis." They wanted to go. They were tired of waiting.
Impact on the 14th Street Bridge
The plane took off, but it never really flew. It struggled to gain altitude, shaking violently as the stall warning kicked in. It reached a height of just 352 feet.
Imagine driving home from work in a blizzard. You're on the 14th Street Bridge, bumper-to-bumper. Suddenly, a Boeing 737 screams out of the gray sky. It slammed into the bridge, crushing seven occupied vehicles and tearing away 97 feet of guardrail. Four people on the bridge were killed instantly.
Then, the plane went into the river.
The water was 33 degrees. If the impact didn't kill you, the hypothermia would start within minutes. This is where the story shifts from a technical failure to a story of unbelievable human grit.
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Heroes in the Ice: Arland Williams and Lenny Skutnik
We talk about the "Reagan International Airport crash" as a tragedy, but it's also where the "Sixth Passenger" legend comes from.
Arland D. Williams Jr. was one of the people clinging to the tail section in the water. When the Park Service helicopter arrived to drop a life ring, Arland did something nobody expected. He caught the ring and passed it to another survivor. Then he did it again. And again.
By the time the helicopter came back for him, he had slipped beneath the surface. He was the only person who died that day solely by drowning. They eventually renamed the bridge after him.
Then there was Lenny Skutnik. He was just a bystander, a government office worker watching from the shore. He saw a woman, Priscilla Tirado, losing her grip on the rescue line. She was too weak to hold on. Lenny didn't think. He kicked off his boots and dived into the ice-choked Potomac. He dragged her to shore.
What We Learned (The Hard Way)
Aviation changed forever after this. If you’ve ever sat on a plane during a snowstorm and felt annoyed that the pilot is going back for a "second spray" of de-icer, thank Air Florida Flight 90.
The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) changed the rules on:
- CRM (Crew Resource Management): Pilots are now trained to listen to their co-pilots. If a First Officer says "that's not right," the Captain is trained to stop.
- De-icing Buffers: There are now strict "holdover times." If you don't take off within a certain window after de-icing, you MUST go back and do it again. No exceptions.
- Reverse Thrust: You almost never see planes "power back" from gates in winter anymore. Tugs do the work.
Misconceptions About the Crash
A lot of people think the plane "exploded." It didn't. It stalled. It basically fell out of the sky because the wings couldn't produce lift. The ice changed the shape of the wing just enough to make it useless.
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Another myth is that the airport was "unsafe." Reagan National is a notoriously short-runway airport with a tricky flight path over the Potomac, but the airport itself wasn't the problem. The problem was the decision to fly an aircraft that wasn't "clean."
Practical Takeaways for Travelers
While the Reagan International Airport crash happened decades ago, it shaped the safety protocols you rely on today. Aviation is a "blood sport" in the sense that every regulation we have is written in the aftermath of a disaster.
If you are flying in winter, keep these things in mind:
- De-icing is your friend. If you see orange or green fluid being sprayed on the wings, that’s glycol. It lowers the freezing point of water.
- Delays save lives. A "weather delay" isn't the airline being lazy. It’s often the ground crew waiting for a safe window where the holdover time won't expire before you hit the runway.
- Trust the "shudder." Modern planes have "stick shakers" that vibrate the controls if a stall is imminent. After 1982, pilot training for stall recovery was completely overhauled.
The legacy of the crash at the 14th Street Bridge is one of vigilance. We learned that "close enough" is never good enough in the air. The five survivors—Bert Hamilton, Kelly Duncan, Joe Stiley, Patricia Felch, and Priscilla Tirado—carried the weight of that day for the rest of their lives.
For the rest of us, it serves as a reminder that even in the middle of a city, nature and physics don't care about our schedules.
Next Steps for Understanding Aviation Safety
To truly understand how far we've come, look into the NTSB's official report (AAR-82-08). It is a haunting but necessary read for anyone interested in the mechanics of safety. You can also visit the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge in D.C. to see the plaque dedicated to the man who gave his life for strangers. Understanding the human factor in these events is the first step toward preventing them in the future.