Air Florida Flight 90 was an Air Florida flight of a Boeing 737-222 airliner that crashed into the 14th Street Bridge across the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. on January 13, 1982 immediately after takeoff in a severe snowstorm. The accident claimed the lives of 78 people, including four motorists on the 14th Street Bridge. However, a few survivors from the shattered aircraft were rescued from the icy river by a combination of heroic efforts of civilians and professionals. Some of that heroism was commended during President Ronald Reagan's State of the Union speech a few days later. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause of the accident was pilot error. The pilots failed to switch on the engines' internal anti-icing equipment, used reverse thrust in a snow storm prior to take-off, and failed to abort takeoff per FAA regulations even after detecting a power problem while taxiing, and visually identifying ice and snow buildup on the wings. [wikipedia]
Press here to watch this movie in full screen mode.
No comments:
Post a Comment