It was freezing. Not just "cold," but that bone-deep, wet Washington D.C. winter chill that makes everything feel sluggish. On January 13, 1982, the city was basically shut down by a massive snowstorm. National Airport—now Reagan National—was struggling. And then, at 4:01 p.m., the unthinkable happened. A Boeing 737, Air Florida Flight 90, couldn’t gain altitude. It clipped the 14th Street Bridge and plunged into the ice-choked Potomac River.
Most people think of an airplane crash in Washington DC as a freak accident. It wasn't. It was a series of human choices, mechanical misunderstandings, and a brutal environment colliding in real-time.
The Deadly Decision on the Tarmac
The plane sat on the ground for way too long. That’s the simplest way to put it. After being de-iced, the aircraft waited nearly 50 minutes to take off. In that time, more snow accumulated on the wings. You might think, "Well, why didn't they just de-ice again?" Honestly, the crew was stressed. They were behind schedule.
Captain Larry Wheaton and First Officer Roger Pettit made a fatal mistake: they tried to use the heat from the jet exhaust of the plane in front of them to melt the ice on their wings. It sounds clever in theory, right? Like tailgating a car to stay in its slipstream. But in aviation, it’s a disaster. All it did was melt the snow into slush, which then refroze into a rough layer of ice that destroyed the wing's ability to create lift.
The Gauges Were Lying
Here is the part that really messes with your head. As they rolled down the runway, the pilots looked at their instruments. The gauges said they had plenty of power. In reality, the engines were barely pushing.
Because of the ice buildup on the engine probes, the Engine Pressure Ratio (EPR) sensors were giving false readings. The pilots thought they were at full throttle. They weren't. Roger Pettit actually noticed something was off. He mentioned the gauges looked "weird" several times during the takeoff roll. But the Captain, perhaps focused on the worsening weather, pushed forward.
👉 See also: Why the Recent Snowfall Western New York State Emergency Was Different
Tragedy on the 14th Street Bridge
The takeoff lasted only about 30 seconds. The plane barely cleared the runway and struggled to stay in the air. It was "mushing," a term pilots use when a plane is vibrating and sinking because it can't grab the air.
It hit the 14th Street Bridge, which was packed with commuters trying to get home early because of the snow. Imagine sitting in your car in bumper-to-bumper traffic and seeing a Boeing 737 coming right at you. The plane crushed seven vehicles and killed four people on the bridge before sliding into the Potomac.
Only six people out of the 79 on board made it out of the fuselage into the water.
The Heroism of "The Sixth Passenger"
The water was 33 degrees. If you’ve ever fallen into freezing water, you know the "cold shock" response makes it almost impossible to breathe, let alone swim.
A Park Police helicopter, Eagle 1, arrived on the scene. Pilot Donald Usher and paramedic Gene Windsor performed maneuvers that were borderline suicidal, dipping the helicopter's skids into the water to reach survivors.
✨ Don't miss: Nate Silver Trump Approval Rating: Why the 2026 Numbers Look So Different
But the story everyone remembers involves Arland D. Williams Jr. He was one of the survivors clinging to the tail section. Every time the helicopter dropped a life ring to him, he passed it to someone else. He saved five people. When the helicopter came back for him a final time, the tail section had sunk. He was gone. He’s one of the few people in history to be posthumously honored for an airplane crash in Washington DC through the renaming of a bridge—the 14th Street Bridge's northbound span is now the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge.
Why This Specific Crash Changed Aviation Forever
We don't just talk about Flight 90 because it was dramatic. We talk about it because it changed how every single commercial flight operates today. Before 1982, the Captain's word was law. If a First Officer saw a problem, they often hesitated to speak up forcefully.
- Crew Resource Management (CRM): This crash is the "Patient Zero" for CRM training. It taught airlines that the cockpit needs to be a democracy in an emergency. If the co-pilot says the gauges look wrong, the takeoff stops. Period.
- De-icing Protocols: We now have strict "holdover times." If a plane sits too long after being sprayed, it must go back for another round. No exceptions.
- Engine Design: Manufacturers changed how sensors are heated so that ice can't "fool" the pilots into thinking they have more power than they actually do.
What People Often Get Wrong About the Crash
Some people think the plane was just too heavy. Others think the engines failed.
The truth is the engines were fine. They were just throttled back because the pilots believed the lying sensors. It was a "controlled flight into terrain," or in this case, water. It was a tragedy of misinformation.
Also, there's a common myth that the bridge was the main cause of the fatalities. Actually, the impact with the water was survivable for many—it was the combination of the impact and the immediate onset of hypothermia in the Potomac that was so lethal.
🔗 Read more: Weather Forecast Lockport NY: Why Today’s Snow Isn’t Just Hype
Actionable Lessons from Flight 90
If you are a student of history or just someone who flies often, there are real-world takeaways from this event that apply even 40+ years later.
- Trust Your Gut Over the "Boss": Whether you're in an office or a cockpit, if you see something that looks "weird" (like Roger Pettit did), you have to be assertive. Silence is often the most dangerous thing in a room.
- Respect the Environment: The pilots were in a rush because D.C. was closing down. Pushing against nature to meet a schedule is a losing game.
- The "Check Twice" Rule: Modern aviation thrives on redundancy. If one sensor says you're good but the "feel" of the vehicle says you're not, trust the feel.
To truly understand the impact of an airplane crash in Washington DC, one should visit the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge. Look at the water. It’s a somber reminder that safety regulations are written in blood.
Every time you see a plane being sprayed with green or orange fluid at the airport during a snowstorm, you are seeing the direct legacy of Flight 90. That process exists so that what happened in the Potomac in 1982 never happens again.
Next time you're stuck on a tarmac waiting for a second round of de-icing, don't be annoyed. Be thankful. Those extra twenty minutes are the reason you're going to make it to your destination. It's a system designed to prevent the very mistakes that Larry Wheaton and Roger Pettit made on that dark, snowy afternoon.
The investigation by the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) remains one of the most studied cases in history. It proved that a "minor" error like a sensor setting can cascade into a catastrophe. Understanding that "cascade effect" is the key to preventing future incidents in any high-stakes industry, from medicine to engineering.